The Return of Darkness
by VioletNinja
Summary: A direct sequel to Super Paper Mario, we follow Blumiere and Timpani, Mario and the gang, and some new characters as they try to stop Dimentio from destroying everything again- but he holds a terrible secret. Love, loss, action, and SPM secrets revealed!
1. Chapter 1

-Prologue-

Today, I'm going to tell you a story.

You may remember the catastrophic events that happened only a mere few weeks ago, when the dastardly Count Bleck created the Chaos Heart and used it to create a Void that would rip the dimensions apart. Count Bleck had lost the person most dear to him, the woman he loved that he couldn't be with. Thus, he stole his tribe's most secret and horrible possession, the Dark Prognosticus, and then destroyed his own dimension, the place which forbid his love to a human. Afterwards, he went and searched for a personal army, to help carry out his plans.

He found a bat trapped in a cage, and set her free. She became his first minion.

He found a strong army general, betrayed by his own lieutenant, who became his second minion.

He found a young and powerful shape-shifting Pixl experiment, wandering on her own with no place to go, who became his third minion.

Then there was the fourth.

He came to the count and offered his services, his sentences woven with various and vile similes. The count turned him away, almost seeing something familiar about the strange jester. Once the count read about 'The Dark One' in his prophetic tome, he accepted the mad jester's help.

Little did the count know that the jester would ruin everything.

Soon after the creation of the Chaos Heart, created from a union between a horrible monster king, and a beautiful and fair princess, the Heroes of Light, brave and bold, came and collected pieces of the Purity Heart in hopes of stopping this terrible catastrophe, which was uttered only in fear, known to all as The Void.

With all pieces of the Purity Heart collected, the heroes turned to Castle Bleck. At the end, the battle with the count was fierce and difficult, but the heroes defeated the count.

The very same girl the count fell in love with was turned into a Pixl after she was forbidden from the count's tribe, as it was the only way to save her life, at the cost of her memory.

Through the adventures with the heroes, this girl regained her memory, and did not wish to end the count's life.

Then the evil jester revealed his true intentions and attempted to destroy the count, and the heroes. The girl and the count re-affirmed their love for one another and gave new life to the Pure Hearts, which had been used in the previous battle. The Pure Hearts were used to help the heroes destroy the mad jester, and end his hold on one of their own heroes, the Man in Green. The jester thus released him, and the Chaos Heart, and disappeared.

The only way to save the dimensions and destroy the Chaos Heart now was with true love, and the count and the young girl exchanged their vows and disappeared, saving the dimensions, and destroying the Chaos Heart.

This story, is a story of love... and secrets.

* * *

-Chapter One-

"Oh Blumiere? Where are you?" Timpani chuckled to herself. Her husband Blumiere, would sometimes disappear, only to return with a beautiful flower for her, or perhaps a poem he had written.

"There you are!" Indeed, the young man from the Tribe of Darkness was sitting under the oak tree, writing a romantic poem, his white top hat right beside him.

"Yes, my dearest. Your beauty has inspired me to compose another piece of poetry." The young girl smiled as she sat down beside him on the grass, warmed by the beaming sun above.

"Blumiere, I suspect I am not the only reason you are writing?" Timpani asked with a giggle.

"You have found me out. Truly, this place is a paradise."

The 'place' he was referring to was where he and his bride had come to after their union and the destruction of the Chaos Heart. It was truly beautiful with its rolling green hills and flowers of every color in the meadows.

"Yes, this place is really, um... Tres Magnifique" Blumiere chuckled at his wife's attempt to speak french, while it was a good attempt. Timpani joined in the laughter, wondering how her friends back in Flipside were...

A wizard by the name of Merlon was studying at his desk. He often studied now, to fill the absence of his dear friend Tippi.

_No... _he thought.

He glanced at the Light Prognosticus, the book filled with a hopeful prophecy, sitting soundly on its pedestal.

_Lady Timpani is her name, and she must be happy now that she's married to her one true love. _

With this thought, he once again resumed his studies.

Outside the wizard's home is a bustling town by the name of Flipside, with the main icon being the large white tower in the middle of town. This tower is special because it holds seven doors that lead to the locations of the Pure Hearts, from Lineland to Outer Space, to even the Underwhere, land of ended games.

Flopside, the town opposite of Flipside, influenced by how one cannot have light without dark, yielded an identical black tower.

However, this tower contained only one door, a door that now leads to an empty and large black castle, located in the center of a dark, lifeless void. This castle, was named Castle Bleck, after its creator and wielder of the Dark Prognosticus, Count Bleck. Of course, Count Bleck is no more, for he became Lord Blumiere once again after his union with his dearest Lady Timpani.

Of course, even with such an interesting architectural structure, Flipside had reverted back to its peaceful, calm existence as it was before the need of the Pure Hearts. The residents had sent the Heroes of Light off with warm cookies and pleasant goodbyes. Mario and Co. left the inter-dimensional town only a week ago, but it already seemed like an eternity.

* * *

-At the Mario Bros. house in the middle of the Mushroom Kingdom-

"Hey, bro! We're still getting a lot of mail!" Luigi was rummaging through a stack of letters in the living room.

"Huh... looks like another girl wants to go on a date with you!"

Mario was in the shower, humming quietly to himself. These letters were coming everyday, since his tale of universal heroism didn't exactly stay quiet.

"Hey, whaddya know? The princess has invited us to the castle for a party!" Luigi jumped up in excitement, hitting his head on the ceiling.

"OW!" The green-clad plumber felt his head, which was slowly forming a large bump. He had accidentally used his new-found ability, the super jump.

"I really shouldn't use that here... here you go, bro." Luigi nursed his pounding head as he gave his freshly dressed brother the invitation he was holding. Mario read the letter to himself quietly.

"Dear Mario and Luigi,

Tonight at 7 I am hosting a party at the castle to celebrate the salvation of all dimensions. It wouldn't be a proper event without you both. I hope you will both be there!

Love,

Peach"

"Well, what do you think? Should we go?" Luigi asked.

Mario answered immediately, "Oh yeah!" and left to the bedroom to go pick out his best overalls.

"Heh heh... he can never refuse an invitation from Peach, can he?" Luigi said to himself, smiling. Then he left also to go get ready for the party.

Things were going perfectly...

* * *

... While everything seemed to go quite peacefully in these dimensions, there was one place where everything would soon fall apart...

Snore...

...

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE- WHAM. "ugh..." _That alarm is so loud... sigh. Time to get up... _

It was a warm, summer's morning. School was out, and even better, 15-year old Eliza Richards had the whole house to herself.

Both of her parents were both busy in meetings for work today, and her brothers, 11-year old Luke and 8-year old Michael, or "Mike" as he liked to be called, were both at friend's houses. Eliza's friends were all away on family vacations or at summer camps.

Eliza wasn't particularly popular or un-popular, so she didn't have a large amount of friends, but she was very pretty with her long dark brown hair and deep blue eyes, which seemed to make it up, at least a little bit.

Eliza's parents had given her permission to play video games today, after all of her chores were finished. "Okay! Here we go!" Talking to no one in particular, she quickly got up, dressed, and ran downstairs to begin on unloading the dishwasher, watering the garden, and back up to feed her pet hamster, Daisy.

Quickly she wolfed down a small bowl of cereal, and went upstairs to her bedroom, turned on her Wii, and sat down.

"Now I can finish the final boss in Super Paper Mario... Again!" She chuckled to herself. "Even though I already beat the game twice!"

She was really glad she had gotten it when it first came out. The game had only been out for a couple of weeks, but it was already Eliza's favorite game. She especially loved the plot, the love story, suspense, and the traitor, Dimentio, one of the most evil villains of all Mario history.

"ARGH! And one of the hardest bosses!" Tapping quickly on her Wii remote, she went back to her last save point after she lost the final battle. "I guess that's what I get for not paying attention... ha."

She smiled, because she didn't really pay attention after the first time playing a video game.

whoosh.

There was a strange noise behind her. Eliza stood and looked out her window. From her second-story bedroom all she saw was the empty street below, trees dotting the lawns of various houses. The sun was shining brightly today.

"That's strange... nothing's there. Um... It was probably just Daisy..."

WHOOSH.

She heard it again, only much clearer, and closer.

"He-Hello?" She stammered. She was still facing the window. Not expecting anyone to respond, she turned and faced the television to resume playing.

Only, instead of seeing Mario and Tippi in a dark castle, she saw a yellow and purple-clad jester wearing a mask and floating in the air. Instantly he was recognized as Dimentio, the antagonist from her game, though he looked much more realistic.

"Aha ha~" he said, playfully.

"Now, what is a girl like you doing inside on a hot, sunny day? Like a violin inside its case, waiting to be played by the hot, sweaty musician."

Frozen with fright, Eliza could barely say anything. She opened her mouth to scream- "Oh, no, we can't let anyone find out yet..." Dimentio snapped his fingers. "Time to go! Ciao~" A large clear box opened up around Eliza.

Finally finding her voice, she shouted loudly, "NO!"

But her screams were futile, as a strange, spinning sensation came over her. And everything went dark.

The bedroom was quiet now, save for a squealing hamster and the music of a video game.

* * *

"Look, Foi... Such a beautiful moon tonight."

"Yes, darling. It really is a wonderful sight."

"It's a little chilly... do you need a blanket?"

"As long as I am in your arms, Pierre... I will never be cold."

"Very well then... Do you have any wishes for the stars tonight?"

"Well, I'm not sure..."

"You don't have to tell me, love... I know what you wish for."

"Do you think it will come true?"

"I sincerely wish that it does."


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

_Ungh..._

_..._

_Ohhh... _

_My head... What happened? _

Eliza opened her eyes slowly.

She was standing in what looked like a grand, white chapel. There were beautiful brightly colored flowers everywhere, and an immense altar in front of her.

"Where... Am I?" She asked softly, her throat being sore and dry at the moment.

Her head was also pounding rather painfully. She reached up to feel her head, and noticed something was wrong.

"What am I wearing?" Eliza looked more closely at herself.

She was wearing a full, white wedding gown with matching gloves, and a long veil in her hair.

"Why am I in a wedding dress? I'm not getting married... What's going on here?"

"Aha ha~ I believe I can answer those questions." Eliza gasped, having not noticed anyone else around. She looked across the altar, spotting Dimentio on the other side. He looked like he normally did with his mask and jester's outfit, except he had a sleek, black bow-tie tied around his neck.

"Why so bewildered? You should be happy on your wedding day, like a small feline's paw forcibly tied to a piece of yarn."

Eliza was too frightened at the events happening to even cringe at Dimentio's terrible similes.

"B-but I don't want to get married! Especially not to you!" She looked furiously for a way out.

"Oh, you will find that you have no choice." Dimentio responded in a very sinister voice.

Too startled to say anything, Eliza tried to think of a way to escape this unholy matrimony. She spotted a door at the far end of the chapel and began to run towards it.

Before she could take more than a few steps though, a large, transparent box, just like the one in her room earlier, opened up around Eliza, trapping her.

"You can't make me do this!" She cried, her throat now terribly dry.

"You WILL do this, or the consequences may be dire." Dimentio seemed much more serious now, and was starting to become agitated with this persistent and stubborn girl. He was terrifying the poor girl, and he didn't seem to care at all.

"Now, we must begin..."

Eliza was still trapped in the box, except somehow she moved back to where she started. She could only think about how crazy this all was.

"Ahem. I, Dimentio, the_ rightful _master of all dimensions, and greatest magician of all time, do take you as my bride, 'till our games be over. Now, do you, Eliza, take me to be your husband, 'till our games are over?"

Dimentio had spoken so clearly and calmly through all this, Eliza found it hard to believe that he was just some insane jester. He even seemed a little different than what she saw in her video game, back home. He seemed much more... sinister.

"No. I'm not going to marry you." Eliza crossed her arms and turned away from the altar. She knew she really couldn't do much, but maybe if she stalled long enough, someone would find out and put an end to this horrible wedding.

"If you don't say yes, then I will personally destroy your three-dimensional universe!" Dimentio shouted.

Eliza cringed, startled at his uproar. He clearly wasn't going to put up with any more of her stubbornness.

Dimentio touched his middle finger and thumb together, as if he was going to snap them.

Eliza looked at him, watching for his next move, but remained silent.

"If my fingers were to suddenly slip..." His hand started to move back.

"STOP!" Eliza suddenly shouted, her voice cracking with her sore throat and loudness of her voice. She placed her hands on the transparent box as she shouted.

She knew he could, and WOULD destroy her world. Right now, there was no other way. She couldn't let him destroy her world, her family and friends, just to get to her.

"I... I'll marry you." She said quietly, trembling as she looked down, away from Dimentio's horrifying eyes.

Suddenly, a low rumbling noise began and a large, black heart emerged from the altar. Still trapped, Eliza could do nothing but watch in horror as Dimentio floated forward and took the Chaos Heart into his possession.

The Chaos Heart was so full of pure evil that Eliza could feel the dark energy pulsating from it. She wanted to get away, to somewhere safe, but she couldn't as she was still trapped.

She was horrified that she helped to actually create that awful object, the object she knew was once used in an attempt to destroy the world.

"And now, the first part of my plans are completed! All worlds will soon be in my control!" Dimentio summoned his magic and took in the power of the Chaos Heart.

Noticing that Eliza was still standing there, he teleported her away.

"Unfortunately, I am not yet finished with you. Aha ha~ Ciao!"

* * *

...At the Mushroom Kingdom's finest event of the season...

"Daisy... I like your dress." Luigi turned red as he stood and waited for Princess Daisy to respond. "Oh, thanks Luigi!" The tomboyish princess smiled. "Do you want to go get some punch?"

"Uh, sure!" The awkward couple walked towards the punch bowl.

"Ah, young love, eh, Master Mario?" Toadsworth, Princess Peach's companion, was conversing with Mario.

The party was underway at Peach's castle, and it was very joyous and grand. Princess Peach had invited the entire Mushroom Kingdom to attend, and even several friends from the surrounding regions and kingdoms.

Professor Elvin Gadd was in the corner, showing off his latest invention, a device that allows you to grow your hair out to any length.

"I wanted to invent something a little safer this time... Except the invention only works on small bushes so far." He kept saying. He proved it by giving all the plants inside a good hairdo. The potted trees in the front even had blond up-do's.

Even Bowser, the Koopa King, was there, though he still had the idea of having Peach as his wife.

"Braaagh! Where is my Princess?" Bowser stamped his foot repeatedly, shaking the surrounding area as he did so.

"Calm down, your Grumpiness! I'm sure the princess will come soon." Kammy Koopa was trying to calm the impatient Bowser down, with little success.

"She has to be here! Unless that stupid Mario tried to steal her again!" Bowser glared in Mario's direction.

The Monster King came stomping towards the plumber. "Where did you take her? Give her back!" Now furious, Bowser breathed fire towards Mario.

"Mama Mia!" Mario reeled back.

"Your Smelliness! Remember your blood pressure!" Kammy called, from a distance.

"No! This fat plumber thinks he can steal my wife? Well he can eat my fire!" Bowser unleashed a large fireball, barely missing Mario.

"Mama mia Mario! He never quits, does he? Fight him back, Bro!" Luigi called from the sidelines.

"Why don't you go out there and help?" Daisy asked impatiently.

"Uh... W-What? And fight? Um, I think I'll just stay here..." Luigi cowered behind a topiary cut to look like Princess Peach, with long blond hair on top.

"Humph... So much for the 'Hero of Light'." Daisy said with distaste.

As Bowser breathed another wave of flames, Mario jumped over the large beast, landing directly behind him.

Bowser looked up. "Where'd he go?" He looked around. "HA! There you are!"

And shot a fireball right at a topiary cut to look like Mario, which immediately burst into flames.

"Egad!" Professor E. Gadd cried from the sidelines. Mario was currently nowhere to be seen.

Quickly the T.F.B. (Toad Fire Brigade) put out all the flames, making the ballroom look just as it had at the beginning of the party.

While Bowser was distracted, Mario leaped up from behind the table where he was waiting and pounded the monster right in the gut with his foot. "Ow... You dirty, lowlife, son of-"

"Ahem!" A voice rang out pure and clear, breaking up the fight. Princess Peach was standing at the top of the stairs, where everyone could see her.

Bowser sighed at her sight, immediately forgetting the entire battle he just had.

"I would like to thank you all for coming to this joyous celebration! Of course, we wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the Hero of Prophecy, Mario!" Applause and cheer rang out. Mario blushed. "And now-"

Before Peach could finish, the castle began to shake violently.

"What's happening?" asked Rosalina, the guardian of the Luma, and various galaxies.

Her question was drowned out by the rumbling and the shaking of the castle, and by the screams of many Toads and guests.

* * *

"Dearest love: Though the stars may lose their shine, and the moon may turn dark, my love for you will always be-"

Before Blumiere could finish reciting his poetry, an enormous rumbling and shaking began to occur.

"What's going on?" Timpani asked her husband. "It feels like an earthquake!"

The ground continued quaking violently, shaking the couple very brutally. Blumiere grabbed Timpani and floated upwards to protect themselves.

As suddenly as it began, though, it stopped.

"Are you alright, my dear?" Blumiere asked as he let his wife down.

"I'm fine..." Timpani had fallen on the ground before Blumiere grabbed her, her beautiful pearl-white dress was now soiled.

"What was that?" She looked around.

Blumiere winced, as he noticed a sharp pain in his right hand.

"Ow..."

"Darling? Are you alright?" Timpani asked with concern.

"I may have scratched myself. I will be alright." He grasped his hand to stop it from bleeding. Little drops of black blood fell from his hand, staining his once-exquisite velvet-lined glove.

"We can't just leave it like that... Here. Let me help." Timpani took a piece of cloth that tore off of her dress in the earthquake and wrapped her husband's hand with it.

"I didn't know your blood was black..."

"And yet we've known each other for more than 1,500 years?" Blumiere chuckled. Timpani shook her head and sighed. "I suppose you're right. There..." She gave the makeshift bandage a last little tug.

"How's that?"

He smiled. "Much better, my dear. It reminds me of the day we first met." They gazed into each other's eyes, thinking about the chain of events that led them both here now.

Then Blumiere's eyes gazed over at something else, something he didn't see before.

He shouted, "Look! In the distance!"

Timpani squinted to try and see what he was pointing at. "Is that... No, it couldn't be!"

"I'm afraid it is."

They could both see Castle Bleck in the far distance.

* * *

"Oh, Pierre! Pierre!"

"What is it, my love?"

"Oh, thank the stars Pierre! Our wish has finally come true!"

"My dearest Foi, this certainly requires celebrating!

Forget the housework... We shall dance in the moonlight!"

"Yes... We are soon to have our own child!"


	3. Chapter 3

-Chapter Three-

...

_mmm..._

_..._

_What an awful dream... _

_I dreamed I got married to some lunatic... _

_I feel so warm. I don't want to open my eyes yet... _

But Eliza opened her eyes anyway.

She yawned and stretched, being very sore and still a bit tired.

Slowly, she blinked and took in her surroundings.

She was lying on top of a simple black bed with white outlines, in a small room that contained a wardrobe, desk, and a lamp post flickering with a strange black fire. There were two doors, one that led out onto a balcony, and the other that likely led into the hall. Everything in the room was the same dark black, with white outlines.

Eliza almost recognized the pattern.

"Is this... Castle Bleck?" She noticed her throat wasn't hurting anymore, so she must have slept for at least a few hours. She got up. "I must still be dreaming..." She pinched herself to make sure.

"Ow! Okay, not dreaming. But this is insane! Let's see..."

She was pacing about the room now. "I got kidnapped yesterday and married Dimentio. Then I woke up here."

She stopped in the middle of the room, just at the foot of the bed. "But why? Of all people, why does he want me? I think it's time to get out of here."

She went over to the door that led into the hall, and turned the handle. Or, at least she attempted to, for it was locked and wouldn't move. "Great... Not that I was really expecting just to walk out of here..."

She walked over to the door on the other side of the room, just as another thought popped into her head.

"I wonder what my family's doing right now? I'm sure they found out I was missing by now..." She thought about whether her family would be calling her friends, or the police even. She hoped they weren't too upset and afraid for their only daughter's safety.

At the door to the balcony, she turned the handle, which turned in response. Eliza walked out just as the sun was rising, making Eliza have to squint her eyes after seeing a room full of darkness.

She came to the edge and finally viewed her surroundings.

The morning breeze, crisp and cool, was blowing her long hair around and ruffled the folds of her dress.

"Oh wait, I'm still in the wedding gown. I hope I can find some new clothes in a minute..."

Eliza looked out over the horizon, and she could see for many miles around. Almost immediately she could recognize Lineland, the Land of the Cragnons, and the Tile Pool just beyond the Bitlands.

Eliza chuckled. "Seems more like an ocean, it's so big."

Everything was so beautiful in the morning dawn. There was also a large field of green grass near the horizon, with trees and flowers. Though most of these places she recognized from her video game, Eliza thought that they looked much more realistic now.

She looked and could see some people, many miles away, wander around. Then she carefully leaned over and looked directly down, beneath the balcony, and saw that she was several stories off of the ground. There was also a forest very close to the castle.

Coming up with an idea, Eliza walked back inside and opened the wardrobe. There were plenty of feminine articles of clothing to chose from.

"I wonder if this was someone's room before?" Eliza asked herself. She rummaged through and pulled out a long, dark turquoise, sleeveless dress with a small black ribbon tied around the middle.

"This is so pretty... It wouldn't hurt just to try it on." Eliza smiled. That excuse almost always got her the clothes she wanted when she went shopping with her mom.

She slipped out of her white gown and she put on the new dress. _It fits me like a glove..._ She thought. Eliza glanced through the rest of the clothes. _Better take this black cloak out, it may come in handy later._

Remembering her idea, she took out an armful of clothing and began to tie them together. _Mmmph... This looks so much easier in movies... _ After some struggling, Eliza now had a makeshift rope.

"Time to get out of here." She said to herself, quietly. She grabbed the cloak and the rope, went back outside, and slowly closed the door quietly behind her, until it clicked shut.

She tied the rope to one of the short columns holding up the balustrade. Giving it one final tug, she climbed over the edge and started climbing down.

Trying to keep quiet and stay on a rope made of clothing isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, as Eliza soon found out. Though it felt like hours, after only a few minutes, she was finally at the bottom of the rope.

Eliza felt around, and she knew she would have to fall the rest of the way down. It was only a few feet, but from that height Eliza felt like she was a mile off the ground. _oooh... I hate heights... _

Closing her eyes, Eliza let go and fell roughly to the rocky ground.

"Ah- Ouch!" She felt a sharp pain in her left forearm. Examining herself, Eliza could see that she had scratched herself on a stone when she fell, leaving a small cut that started to bleed. A small, deep red drop of blood fell from the wound.

Ignoring it, Eliza got up, picked up her cloak, and started to run as fast as she could away from the castle. She ran straight for the forest. _Somewhere I can hide until it gets darker... _She thought. The young girl picked up her pace.

Running deeper into the denser parts of the forest, Eliza had to zig-zag her way around the many trees, and avoid any extra underbrush.

After several minutes with no stopping, she was beginning to get tired quickly, but kept running anyway. Until she hit something, that is.

"Ooof!" She cried, as she fell down, rather hard. Glancing up, she saw that she had knocked a man over, who was just as dazed as she was.

Terrified that someone should find out, she quickly got up and turned her back to him.

"I'm so sorry! Please don't tell anyone! I'll go back, just please don't tell!" Then Eliza ran as fast as she could away from him, scared that Dimentio would do something horrible if he found out.

The young man was left sitting on the ground, puzzled. _Who... Was that?_

-30 minutes later-

Eliza was back in her room, quickly pacing and thinking (rather loudly) to herself.

"What was I thinking? Just running out during the day? Of all the dumb things I've done..."

She was furious with herself.

"AND someone saw me! Urgh..." She sat down on the bed.

"That was the only plan I had... I can't think of anything else. What am I going to do now?"

Without any hope now, she was silently sobbing. She put her head in her hands, in despair. All she wanted was for a way out of this confusing mess, away from Dimentio, and away from the Chaos Heart. _I thought this was just some video game. It wasn't supposed to be real... Why is this happening to me? _She thought sadly.

Just then, a clear and soft voice called out. "Hello?"

Eliza raised her head and sniffed. Tears were still rolling down her cheeks.

"What do you want?" She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone right now. Glancing around, there wasn't anyone in the room, though.

"Please... Stop crying. I cannot bear to see such a beautiful girl so miserable."

She heard the voice again. It sounded like a young man.

"Where are you? I can't see you." Suddenly, a man flipped into her room. It was the man from the forest she knocked down earlier.

Eliza dried her tears and took a good look at the man. He had deep, orange eyes and black wavy hair, but the most noticeable part of him was his deep blue skin.

He wore a dignified scarlet cape, with a dark suit top underneath. He had no arms, legs, or feet, but he did have hands, which were bare.

Eliza thought that he looked very handsome, and he appeared to be just slightly older than she was.

The man spoke again. "Are you alright? I'm terribly sorry about bumping into you earlier, I'm afraid I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Oh..." Eliza was surprised at how polite he was.

"Th-Thank you, sir. I'm afraid I wasn't watching where I was going, either... But it's okay, no need to worry." She smiled, trying to convince herself that it was true. She knew her eyes were still red from crying.

"I'm very glad. Oh," The man reached into his cape and pulled something out. "You dropped this... I thought you might want it back."

Eliza took it and unfurled it. It was her cloak. "Thank you... That's very kind of you."

The man blushed.

"Now that all matters are in order, may I know the name of this fair maiden who stands before me?" He bowed low. Eliza wondered how this was possible, as he had no legs.

"My name is Eliza. It's nice to meet you."

"Eliza... What a magnificent name. My name is Romando. It is quite a pleasure to meet you, but..."

"Yes?" Eliza asked.

"What are you doing inside a closed room? It's a wonderful day today, why not go for a walk?"

"Oh..." Eliza was nervous now. She didn't really want to tell him what happened, but if he knew, maybe he could help her.

She took a deep breath, then she told him what happened over the last 24 hours, from Dimentio appearing in her bedroom back home, to crashing into Romando just minutes before, but left out the part about getting married. She wasn't going to tell him that she was married to an insane freak.

Romando listened intently, not saying anything. When she finished, he nodded his head slightly and said, "Well, then we need to get out of here, don't we?" He smiled and held out his hand.

Eliza's heart was beating rapidly. Here was an incredibly attractive young man who was polite, and seemed very mature, ready to help her. Eliza blushed as she smiled shyly and walked over to him and reached out to take his hand, as there was not an arm to take.

Just before she could take it, suddenly she heard faint voices.

Eliza looked up at Romando with a worried expression, and saw that he had heard the voices also.

Someone was coming closer down the hall outside her door.

"Romando, you can't stay. What if someone sees you?" Eliza pleaded in a hoarse whisper.

"But I can't just leave you here! You must come with me!" Romando replied hastily.

As they were talking, Eliza tried to push him out gently.

"If someone sees I'm gone, they'll come looking for me! Please, you have to leave!"

The voices outside were so close now that Eliza could hear their heavy footsteps echo out around the hallway.

Romando sighed. "Then I will come back for you tonight, I'll help you escape then!" And he flipped out of the room.

Quickly Eliza laid down on the bed with her back to the door, and pretended she was asleep. She was trying to stay very quiet to hear what they were saying, but it was very hard as she was so nervous, her heart was beating rapidly.

The first voice spoke, it sounded clearer now that Eliza could hear them.

It sounded like a male, though a bit smaller than a human.

"Well, I always thought that pink was a girly color." The second voice immediately chimed in, it sounded similar to the first voice.

"Hey, speaking of pink, remember that pink-haired girl that came to the castle last night? I heard the Master had her locked up in the prison cell. She's probably not much use to him, but he won't bother himself with her."

The door creaked opened as a tray of food was shoved in, the door closed again, then the lock clicked. Now the two voices were too far away to comprehend.

Eliza got up and wondered, _What were they talking about, a pink-haired girl? And who is this 'Master'?_ Now she had nothing to do but wait for Romando to come back tonight, and she really wasn't hungry.

Eliza let her body relax, collapsed on the bed again in a tired heap, and quickly fell into a world where there definitely were no boundaries between reality and fantasy.

* * *

"Timpani... Do you know where we are?" Blumiere asked. The young couple had been walking for almost an hour, trying to figure out what had happened such that Castle Bleck could be seen.

"Well, it appears that we are currently in Lineland... But why? I thought our 'paradise' was in a separate dimension than any other?"

Blumiere glanced up at the clouds, which took the form of linear mushroom kingdom-style equations. Then he looked out over the horizon, past the trees, and saw a somewhat pixelated land, though with a similar landscape to that of Lineland.

"These dimensions are supposed to be separate, not all combined into one world together like this." Blumiere adjusted his monocle, and resumed.

"And Castle Bleck was located in the center of The Void, no one could see it unless they basically went right up to the front door. Only a truly magnificent power could combine all these dimensions and worlds."

The two looked at each other. They could see that they were both thinking the same thing, and they shuddered.

"Let's walk a little faster..." Timpani said, with a trace of fear in her voice.

_Could HE really be behind all this?_

_

* * *

_

"Mario!" Luigi shoved his brother. "Bro, wake up!"

Mario opened his eyes, just as Princess Peach came running over.

"Mario, you're awake! Look at what happened!"

Mario stood and took in the full view. Mario, Peach and Luigi were all standing outside Peach's castle, and it was very dark. Many of the other guests seemed to have already left.

The castle itself was fine, save for some minor damages here and there, and there was a large fissure in the ground next to the castle courtyards. Past that, Sarasaland, the kingdom from which Princess Daisy was from, was clearly visible.

"Sarasaland was too far away to be seen from the castle," Peach said. "But after that earthquake, we're practically next door neighbors."

"What do you think happened, bro?" Luigi asked.

"I'll tell you what happened!" Bowser shouted at the top of his lungs as he emerged from a pile of debris. "Some freak didn't want me to be with my wife!"

"But Bowser..." Peach began. "That wasn't even a real wedding, just a stunt to create the Chaos Heart to destroy the universe."

Bowser wasn't even listening. "Whoever did this is gonna PAY, Koopa-style!"

Quickly Mario spoke to the group, gesturing to further express his point. They couldn't just keep arguing like this, they had to do something.

"Mario's got the right idea. We should all go to see Merlon in Flipside, maybe he knows something about this." Peach turned to Bowser. "Don't you think so?"

The giant koopa crossed his arms and grunted. "Another trip with the Mario losers? Isn't once too many times? I don't wanna."

Peach sighed. "Please Bowser? For me?" She pleaded.

"Grr... Fine. But I'm gonna kick some butt for sure!"

And then the four heroes once again set off for the wise wizard's home.

* * *

"I love you...

I always will."

There was a huge flash of blinding light...

She was falling. There was no one who could catch her...

No one who could save her...

"Eliza!"

"Mmm... What?" Eliza slowly opened her eyes. Romando was in the room, standing next to her bed.

"Are you alright? You were crying..."

Eliza felt her face, which was indeed both warm, and wet. Her pillow was also fairly soaked. "It... I had a nightmare. I'm okay though."

In reality, Eliza occasionally had had that dream before of the woman, but she could never recognize her. She could never do anything, but watch in fear.

Romando looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Very well, then... Let's go."

Eliza stood up, just as she remembered the conversation she heard that morning.

"Wait... We can't leave yet."

Romando turned and stared at her, a questioning and bizarre look on his face.

Quickly, she explained to him what she had heard from the guards.

"A pink-haired girl, you say? Hmm..." Romando furrowed his brow. "I don't believe I know anyone with pink hair."

He stood (or floated) there, nearly lost in thought about the mysterious girl in question. "Well, whoever she is, we can't just leave her here in the clutches of a mad man... Thing..."

Eliza looked up at the young man. He looked into Eliza's deep blue eyes. She had a small pout on her face, which was simply too pitiful and cute to ignore.

"Please?" Eliza said in her cutest voice. She stuck out her lower lip, like a little dog.

Romando chuckled. "Then perhaps we shall rescue this girl!" His eyes lit up as he proclaimed this. "But first... I must show you something outside." He smiled, energized by their youthful ambition.

Eliza watched him walk (or float, she couldn't tell with the cape he was wearing) over outside to the balcony. He beckoned for her to follow.

Eliza walked to him, her heart beating rapidly as she wondered about what he wanted to show her, especially this late in the evening.

"Take my hand, and hold on tight." Romando spoke so crisply, with determination in his voice. Eliza took his hand, and he flipped them both away from the dark castle.

By the time Eliza blinked her eyes, they were both outside, in the middle of the same forest as the one they were in that same morning.

She looked around at the surroundings, and gasped in amazement. It was dark outside, but the moon was full, and its light shone beautifully over the forest and reflected on the small lake in the center of the clearing.

"It's so beautiful..." Eliza said with a quiet sigh.

"It is, isn't it?" Romando asked. "It gets even better... Look up."

Eliza turned her gaze to the stars above. The view of the celestial bodies was much clearer than it was at her home, back on Earth. She loved stargazing at night. Suddenly, a star whizzed across the midnight sky. Before she could speak, another flew across the sky, closely following the first.

"A meteor shower!" Eliza proclaimed, very elated, and sat down on the cool, soft grass to watch.

Romando nodded his head, smiled as he sat down, and again turned his eyes toward the stars above. "Where I was once from, my people considered a meteor shower to be the most beautiful natural occurrence. And it was a sign of prosperity... And love."

Eliza blushed shyly.

"So... Where are you from?" She almost knew the answer anyway, but she figured that it wouldn't be polite to say so.

Romando looked away. He didn't think he'd really have to tell anyone who he was. Not yet, at least.

_Well, since Eliza told me about herself... _He thought.

"I'm from a tribe... The Tribe of Darkness." Immediately he winced, fully expecting Eliza was going to do something in sheer fright. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes and looked at the young girl. She still had her gaze pointed towards the stars, as if nothing had happened at all.

"If you're from the Tribe of Darkness, then why did you come to me at all? I thought your kind was not allowed to mix with humans?" Eliza replied quietly.

Romando breathed a sigh of relief. Eliza didn't seem to be frightened of him or his kind, but rather curious.

"I saw you on the balcony this morning... You looked so beautiful in the sunrise. When we... met in the forest, you seemed so scared and confused, I couldn't just leave you miserable like that in such a time." He cleared his throat.

"And I am no longer bound by the ways of my people. There is no one left... but me. There was a lot of rubble, here and there from the various houses and the castle, though the majority of the structures were still standing. It was if our entire dimension was destroyed, and then re-built."

Eliza didn't say anything at first. Then she spoke. "I'm sorry to hear that... If I may, how did you survive?"

"I'm not even sure myself. I remember taking a walk, trying to clear my head. I was very far from the castle which was located in the center of our dimension. The next thing I knew, there was some kind of explosion. I woke up a week or two ago, no one was around, and the castle was falling apart. I stayed there for however long it was, I don't exactly remember. Then there was a large earthquake, and I could see other worlds around me, and last night I left. I walked most of the night, and then that's about when we met."

The two sat silently, staring at the lake.

"I actually miss everyone... My friends and family..." He was starting to cry a little. Eliza tenderly placed her hand on his. Romando held back his tears. It was far too inappropriate for him to cry in front of a young woman.

"I miss my family, too." Eliza spoke quietly.

Romando replied, "What were they like?"

Eliza smiled. "Well, my dad's a firefighter. He's always off, protecting people, like a real hero. And my mom's a teacher, she teaches history to high-schoolers. And then there's my two little brothers. They can be a total pain sometimes..." She smiled at the thought of the people who loved her and cared for her.

"What about your family?" She inquired.

Romando sighed. "My mother died when I was born. Sometimes when I was younger I would wish she didn't, then maybe things would have been different. My father was always gone... working. I often had the feeling that he didn't really like me anyway, he always seemed to prefer my older brother. Who was also a pain."

He kept his eyes on the shimmering lake as he spoke.

The two sat there on the grass, staring at the beauty around them, from the lake, to the full moon, to the stars streaking across the galaxy. They sat there for a long time, both thinking to themselves.

After a while, Romando turned his attention to Eliza and spoke. "Eliza, if you plan on rescuing the pink-haired girl, how are you going to do it?"

Eliza thought hard, suddenly feeling very stupid. "I guess I didn't really think that far ahead..." She felt her face get hot.

"Well, I know a way that might help. Do you know how to flip from one location to another?" Eliza shook her head. "Then I am going to teach you."

Eliza widened her eyes in amazement. "You can actually teach me?"

Romando chuckled. "Well, you don't plan on just wandering the castle with the girl, now do you? Come on, follow my lead."

Eliza got up and stood back, to watch.

"First, observe. I simply focus on the exact place where I want to go, and then..." And he flipped, re-appearing next to a tree a few yards away. He then flipped back to where Eliza was standing. "Of course, there's more to it than just concentrating. Act as if you're spinning when you start. Now, you try."

Eliza took a deep breath, shut her eyes and thought very hard about the same tree, and spun. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. Romando was still standing next to her.

Seeing the disappointment on her face, he smiled and tried to encourage her. "That's okay, most don't get it right on the first try. Why, it took me a full week just to completely grasp the subject!" Eliza's face brightened. "There. That's better. Now, try again..."

And this round of instruction went on for hours with occasional conversation in between, until the sun began to rise.

The sunlight was beginning to streak through the trees. Eliza looked up at the sky, and saw the faint outline of the moon behind the pink and orange clouds. "I have to go before someone finds out that I'm gone."

Romando tenderly grasped her shoulder. "Keep practicing the technique. I know you'll get it. Maybe tonight I can show you something new."

Eliza took his hand.

"Hold on... I'll get you back safely." And he flipped them both to the bedroom of the dark castle.

* * *

"Ah, Pierre!"

"Yes, Sire?"

"Pierre, I wish to congratulate you and your wife, for the future arrival of your firstborn."

"Thank you very much, Sire. I am deeply appreciative."

"Do you know what you are having?"

"I do not know for sure, but my wife believes it is a girl."

"So then, Pierre... If your wife bears a daughter, as my loyal advisor, would you consider her betrothal to my younger son?"

"Not your firstborn, Sire?"

"Oh no... He's nearly 11 years old, far too old for betrothal. But my younger is the perfect age, only a young child."

"I would be honored, Your Majesty. My wife will be very pleased."

"Excellent. One day, your daughter shall be a princess."


	4. Chapter 4

-Chapter Four-

Back in the castle, Eliza took a few moments to rest, when she fell asleep. She only slept for a couple of hours, but she felt very well rested and ready for anything.

She got up from the bed and thought, _If I want to help this girl, I've got to learn some skills... _She stood up straight and thought hard about the balcony outside. She spun quickly, then opened her eyes.

She was still where she was first standing, next to the black bed in the black room. She thought to herself, _I have to learn this! Time for some practice... _

And so she spent nearly all day in that room, attempting to flip over short distances. She was never successful, but she tried not to let that discourage her too much. She was trying so hard, she didn't realize it was getting darker and darker outside, until it became almost too dark to see inside. She stopped practicing, and walked outside to the balcony to wait.

Then, she saw Romando walking (or floating, she still couldn't tell) towards the castle. She was so excited to finally see him again after a disappointing day, her heart filled with excitement, she felt as if she could dance with pure joy!

"Er, Eliza?"

Eliza opened her eyes.

"Um, Romando! Sorry, I guess I just got a little excited." She blushed.

"Ha, ha... There's nothing to be sorry about, look around you."

Eliza looked, and gasped. She was on the ground in front of the castle, under the balcony. "So... I actually flipped?" She asked in amazement.

Romando chuckled. "Apparently so. Follow me. We're going back to the lake."

Romando flipped quickly out of sight.

Eliza sighed and flipped after him.

When she was at the lake, she glanced around herself but couldn't see the young man anywhere. Suddenly, an apple flew at her. Quickly the girl caught it, just before it hit her head.

Romando came out from behind some trees. "I absolutely love your reflexes. Now eat up. You'll need a lot of energy for what I'm going to teach you next."

Eliza smiled and began eating. It wasn't long before she realized how hungry she was. Even though it was only a small apple, Eliza felt as if she were full.

"Before we start, I have to tell you something about flipping: It can be very hard to flip over long distances at first, especially in a rush. It really will just take some practice.

Now, are you ready?" Romando said, quietly.

"Um, yeah. I'm ready." Eliza replied. _For what? _

"Very well. I am going to show you an attack, the Energy Dash." Eliza stood silently, wondering why it was called that.

"Now, stand back. You just run, gathering up all your energy..." He ran, and ending his run, threw his arms out as he turned slightly, just as a ring of red energy burst from his body. "And... There." Romando stood there as he caught his breath. "This attack is very useful for catching someone off-guard. However, since you need to take a moment afterwards to regain your energy, this is best used with a minimal amount of opponents around."

He paused another moment, then spoke. "Why don't you try? It wouldn't hurt to do it here. Make sure you have some room first."

Eliza glanced around her, checking to make sure she wouldn't hit anything. She slowly took a deep breath, and started running. She went, quickly threw her arms out as she turned slightly sideways, and yelled, "Ur... HAAA!"

Nearing the end of her attack, she could see through her peripheral vision a dull ring of red energy coming from her. Eliza stopped, and doubled over, exhausted. "Gasp... How... Was that?" She asked.

Romando stood, amazed. "That was incredible! I... Can't believe you did so well on your first try."

Eliza straightened and chuckled. "Well, I had a good teacher." She smiled.

Romando blushed and smile back. "Oh, well... Thank you."

The pair stood there silently, not knowing what else to say. The both began feeling very awkward, in their own thoughts in such silence.

Eliza spoke. "Um, can I ask you something?"

Romando felt relieved that the silence broke.

"Of course, Eliza."

"What was your tribe like?" She asked.

"Well, let's see... Our tribe was actually much larger than a tribe you'd normally think about. More than 500 people were in the tribe, and we all lived in our own dimension, and in a very large forest. There was a magnificent castle in the center, for the king and his family to live in, and for the king to oversee his people from. The rest of the people lived in their homes, scattered among the forest but still relatively near the castle." Romando stopped momentarily to clear his throat.

"As for the people, we as members of the Tribe of Darkness prided ourselves on being just that... of darkness. Our people were a bit more regal than others. Women wore dresses, actually, rather like the one you're wearing... Men wore suit tops, like the one I'm wearing. See, my arms are actually there, just invisible, and a little bit lighter than yours. In our tribe, it was really up to personal choice to wear pants and sleeves, though in my opinion, they're really uncomfortable."

Eliza laughed inwardly. She couldn't think of anyone else she knew who would actually say that pants were uncomfortable, except maybe her littlest brother.

"One thing you could get into trouble for was trying to look like a human, with white skin, arms and legs. I figured it was just a pride issue, that we shouldn't try to look like something we're not, but I always wondered if there were any other reasons..."

He trailed off, lost in his own thoughts. He shook his head. "Anyway, before sunrise, I have to teach you how to fly, if it's possible."

"What do you mean, 'if it's possible'?" Eliza said with a questioning voice.

"Well, since you're a human, I don't know if you can. However, since you can do the other things, it really wouldn't hurt just to try."

Romando stepped back, into a clearer area. "Now, watch..." And he rose into the air, his arms extended, and simply floated there. Then he returned to the ground.

"With my people, this has really become second nature, considering the lack of visible appendages."

Before Eliza could say anything, the sun started to rise, it's beams stretching through the sparse forest, and reflecting off of the shimmering lake.

"Oh no... I'm sorry, Romando. I have to get back before anyone finds out I'm missing." Eliza said. She was amazed that time had passed so quickly.

"I'm still going to escort you to the castle. Hang on." Eliza clung to Romando, her arms wrapped under his scarlet cape, as they flipped back to her room.

Eliza let go, and stepped back.

"I think you're ready now, you can rescue the girl safely tonight." Romando said, a little hesitantly. He was beginning to believe he was developing feelings for this girl, and great curiosity to her power.

"Romando..." Eliza began. She wasn't quite sure how to proceed. "Thank you. You've really taught me so much... Perhaps we'll see each other again someday- Mmph!"

Romando leaned in and kissed her with such passion and vigor, while tenderly embracing her. Eliza slowly closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around him, as she let his lips tenderly flow over her own. She never could even begin to imagine her first kiss would be like this, it was so perfect and romantic.

Romando slowly stepped back and smiled. "Don't think you can get rid of me that easily. Now, I'll come meet you back here at dawn tomorrow. You can do it, I know you can. I trust you will do what's right when the time comes. Get some rest, and practice your techniques before you go." He looked into the young girl's eyes with concern, and love. "And... Don't be out too late. We'll have to walk a bit away from the castle tomorrow."

Eliza sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, dad..."

Romando smiled and turned. "Ha ha... See you tomorrow, kid." He answered playfully. And he flipped out of the room.

Slowly, Eliza walked over to her bed and laid down. _My parents would go nuts if they knew what I was doing... Staying up every night, kissing a cute guy... who's blue... _And she fell asleep, just as a tray of food was pushed through the door.

* * *

"Grr... I'm hot!" Bowser complained loudly. The four heroes had been walking for almost an entire day, with occasional breaks here and there.

"But Bowser, you're a giant fire-breathing koopa. You're always hot." Luigi was getting frustrated with the monster.

"Guys... Please stop arguing. It won't help us get where we're going." Peach was also pretty irritated.

"Speaking of which, how are we going to get to Merlon's house? None of us can flip!" Luigi asked.

Suddenly, a group of about twenty green-shelled koopas came charging from the nearby foliage.

"Ugh... Finally! Some help! You, Wilson, get me a nice, cold soda!" Bowser ordered.

The koopas ignored him and rammed Luigi, knocking him to his feet.

"Ow... Why is it always me?" He moaned with irritation in his voice.

Before the koopas could attack Princess Peach, Mario jumped up and onto some of their heads, forcefully knocking them into their shells.

"Hey! Stop attacking my henchmen!" Bowser shouted.

"Bowser, I don't think these koopas are on your side anymore!" Peach cried over the ruckus of Mario's attacks as he continued to jump on the turtle-like creatures.

The group of koopas was very easy to defeat, and as Mario backed away, the koopa group stood up, and spoke in unison: "All hail Master Dimentio!" And they all fled.

"Master Dimentio?" Peach inquired. Mario shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps we're getting closer..." The Princess said.

"Who cares. I'm still hot!" Bowser whined. "Oh, for crying out loud..." Peach answered.

Once again, the four heroes set off.

* * *

Blumiere and Timpani were walking through what was a very hot, desert land. "Now we're in Yold Desert... Another part of Lineland." Timpani said. Both were very hot and tired from walking so long, without really knowing where they were going.

They were just coming into Yold town, which was deserted. "Where is everyone? It doesn't look like anyone's here..." Timpani said quietly.

"Need I remind you who you're traveling with? It's no wonder everyone left." Blumiere raised his scepter, slightly exasperated.

"No, I know it's not you. Everyone must have left long before we got here." Timpani quickly replied.

Suddenly, a small girl with sandy blond hair and blue eyes came running up to them.

"Hi! Someone's really here!" The little girl squealed.

Timpani tried to explain. "Well, we're not really-"

"My name's Ashley. Listen, have either of you seen Luigi anywhere?"

Blumiere replied, "Well, we haven't-"

"Luigi's my hero! I know he'll save us! If either of you see him, tell him to give me his autograph! Bye!"

The energetic girl ran off so quickly away from the town, the couple was left dazed and confused.

"What in the dimensions?" Blumiere questioned.

"I believe she was from Flipside." Timpani had an idea. "Why don't we go see Merlon? I'm sure he'd know just what to do."

"Oh, so we follow the Luigi fanatic?" Blumiere raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, at least she didn't recognize you..." Timpani answered.

"Don't even go there..."

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set. Eliza had been practicing her flipping, taking great care to be as quiet as she could be.

Noticing that it was much darker, she put on her black cloak and raised the hood, and listened at the door to the hall. It was completely silent, so she concentrated on getting to the other side of the door, and flipped. Opening her eyes, she indeed was in the hall now. She didn't really know where to go, though.

_Well, if this is anything like the game, then the cell would be downstairs. _She thought to herself.

Quietly, she started walking down the hallway, keeping close to the black walls and away from any extra light. Walking on the stone floor, she was thankful her shoes were flat. High-heels would quickly give her location away to anyone who was still awake.

There weren't any guards or minions around, but Eliza was still very cautious. Silently, she slipped through a doorway and down a set of stairs. Walking straight down the corridor, she looked around and tried to find something that would indicate where the pink-haired girl could be.

"You know what? I think you're just jealous." Hearing voices, Eliza quickly snuck into a nearby corridor and hid in the dark, her heart beating nervously.

"Ha, jealous? That's rich coming from you, you big salopard."

The first voice spoke again, somewhat annoyed. "You know, calling me a dork in French doesn't take away any hurt." Two koopas in metal armor walked past the corridor where Eliza was hiding.

When they were finally gone, Eliza came back out and continued down the hall. Coming to the end, she quietly flipped to the other side of a locked door. She heard soft crying, but nothing else, so she followed the sound. She came to a locked cell.

Peering inside, she saw... "Nastasia?" Eliza recognized the girl from her game, with pink hair and blue skin, but she wasn't wearing her red-rimmed glasses.

The pink-haired girl looked up. "What? Who's there?" The poor girl was frightened, and absolutely miserable.

"My name's Eliza, I'm going to get you out of here. What happened?" She asked quietly.

"Sniff... I came to the castle the other night to get a few things... But then I saw Dimentio. I screamed and ran away as fast as I could, but then some of his minions caught me. I broke my glasses, so I can't see to flip out of here."

_So Dimentio must be the 'Master' the guards were talking about... And Nastasia must have come to the castle AFTER the wedding that night... _

Eliza thought to herself.

She shook her head and focused on the current situation.

"Well, you have help now. Hang on." Eliza looked around, then flipped inside.

"Hold on to me, we're getting out of here." Nastasia held onto her, and Eliza flipped right back out of the cell.

Without warning, she heard voices again, but very clearly. They were already in the room.

"Hey, you! Stop right there!" The guard called out, and started running towards them.

Eliza swiftly picked Nastasia up, carefully holding her, and said, "Hold on tight. We're in for a ride."

She ran as fast as she could, away from the guard. More and more of Dimentio's minions apparently were hearing the whole mess, as they came running out the door and into the room.

Eliza spotted another door at the other end of the room and ran towards it, trying to hold Nastasia and keep her hood up at the same time.

She went through the door, slammed it shut, and kept running. She ran down the hall, as more guards called out and came after them. Eliza was a bit relieved that none of them seemed to recognize her under the dark cloak.

But then, coming out of a nearby corridor in front of Eliza, came a large group of various koopas blocking the way out, all looking to stop the supposed intruder.

Thinking quickly, Eliza leaped onto one of the minion's heads, and flew over the entire group. She landed roughly on her feet, and continued running, still holding the trembling girl.

Turning down passages and through doors, Eliza finally seemed to have lost them. She came to a familiar hallway, and flipped from there, back to the bedroom.

Now safe, she let Nastasia down, took off her cloak, and said, "We'll leave here first thing in the morning. You're safe now." Eliza tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, Thanks." Nastasia seemed slightly distracted. "Um, is there a pair of glasses anywhere?" She asked.

Eliza walked over to the desk and opened the drawer. Sure enough, there was a pair of red glasses inside. "Here... Do these work?"

Nastasia put them on. "Um... Yeah. These are great. Actually, I think this is my old room... Yawn..."

"Just get some sleep. You need it more than I do." Eliza tried to act all grown-up and caring.

Nastasia gladly laid down on the bed and soon fell asleep.

Walking over to the chair at the desk, Eliza sat down and rested, thinking to herself, _Did I really fly back there? I must have... I'm so glad Romando taught me all that stuff..._

For the next couple hours, Eliza remained immersed in her thoughts, watching Nastasia sleep deeply, until the sun began to rise.

Eliza got up and gently shook her awake, just as Romando flipped in.

"Everything go alright?" He asked.

"Sure did." Eliza stepped aside to let Romando see Nastasia, now standing next to the bed.

Romando smiled. "I knew you'd do well. Are you both ready?"

Nastasia mumbled something, still groggy from just waking up.

"Yes, we're ready." Eliza answered for them.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" An unknown voice spoke, echoing around the small room.

Before anyone could answer, Dimentio flipped into the room.

Eliza felt dreadful now. She just wanted out of this mess, now it looked like something even worse was going to happen, but she couldn't imagine what.

"A silly assistant," Dimentio looked in Nastasia's direction. She was standing next to Eliza, trembling.

"A stubborn brat," He looked in Eliza's direction with disdain.

"And..." The jester looked in Romando's direction.

"Oh, my..." Dimentio spoke playfully, but strangely, still sounded very sinister.

"You... You stay away from these girls!" Romando realized who the jester must be, and stepped in between the girls and the jester, sounding very brave as he said this.

Dimentio spoke. "You mean you don't recognize me? Perhaps you'll recognize me now..."

Dimentio took off his mask, and Romando gasped in both shock and horror.

* * *

"Foi... Foi! Wake up!"

"Mmm... What is it, dear?"

"I think I had a vision."

"Really? What was it about?"

"Our daughter... She's going to be incredible, but... Something was wrong."

"Pierre... I think you might just be a little excited about her betrothal.

Now, please... just get some rest."

"Alright... Maybe I am just nervous... Good night."

"Good night, dear."


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter 5-

Eliza, Nastasia, and Romando were standing in Eliza's bedroom. Eliza had just rescued Nastasia, and when Romando finally arrived the next morning, Dimentio appeared, taunting them with insults, until he spotted Romando.

"Perhaps you'll recognize me now..." Dimentio took off his mask, as Romando gasped in both shock, and horror.

Dimentio transformed fully, now looking taller and much more human-like. He had dark blue skin now, and he was wearing a stately suit. His black hair was combed back, framing his sinister, yellow eyes.

Romando was too shocked to say much. "You... How..." He stammered.

"Why, Romando... I thought you had more common sense. Falling in love with a filthy human is one matter, but your own step-mother? Tsk, tsk..." Dimentio chided Romando.

Romando finally realized what he was saying, and glanced at Eliza, who also realized the same thing. Her stomach was churning so much, she thought she was going to be sick. "How?" She asked.

"You'd be surprised as to what magic can accomplish. It took me several years to perfect the spell, but it finally paid off, and I was able to do so many things, virtually undetected. I can change my entire appearance, and even alter my personality with this mask." Dimentio remained floating in the air as he fingered the mask.

"All this time... I thought I was the last one..." Romando said, his breath leaving his lungs.

"You're not the only one. I believe your step-mother thought there was one member left as well, with the help of a special game..." Dimentio taunted.

Eliza looked up in surprise. "How do you know about the game? And I'm not his step-mother!"

"You deny your own marriage? Our union created the Chaos Heart! You know these things because you also know the facts from a video game created with magic! Did you really think that everything you've seen so far is merely coincidental?" The sinister man was building up rage.

"But... Why me? Out of all the people who've played the game, why pick me?" Eliza pleaded. Nastasia was still trembling, trying to hide behind Eliza.

Dimentio put on his mask again, and turned back into the colorful jester.

"Enough! Your voice is destroying my eardrums, like a child's unclipped fingernails being dragged down a filthy chalkboard!"

Immediately he created a starburst and hurled it directly at the group. All three jumped out of the way, just in time.

"Nastasia, Romando, get out of here!" Eliza cried.

"No! I'm going to stay and help you!" Romando answered back.

"No, you can't! I never wanted you to get wrapped up in this mess in the first place!" Eliza argued. She didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her.

"You don't get it, do you? Eliza, he's my father! I'm going to help you, whether you like it or not!"

Eliza sighed. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument.

Just then, Nastasia screamed as another starburst was hurled at the group, barely missing Nastasia.

"Get out of here!" Romando told her. Nastasia flipped out of the room and down to the forest outside.

Both Eliza and Romando were frantically trying to dodge starbursts, narrowly missing each of them.

Then, Eliza was run into the wall, and having no room to move, was hit in the arm, right where she scratched herself the other day. She winced and grasped her forearm. The starburst felt as if it was a ninja star, as sharply as it hit her. Eliza shut her eyes as she felt blood run down her arm, and opened them again as she heard something break in the room.

Dimentio had thrown a starburst at Romando, knocking him over and breaking the chair that was sitting next to the desk.

"Are you alright?" Eliza shouted.

"Ah- I'm fine! Just a small scratch!" Romando reassured her. He clutched his shoulder, which was dripping with a black substance that Eliza assumed was his blood.

_I've got to do something... _Eliza thought back to her video game, when Mario battled Dimentio. _Mario... _She thought. _That's it! _

Eliza jumped up in the air, quickly (but shakily) floated over, and dropped on the jester's head. He flailed for a moment, then flipped to the top of the room.

"Ha ha... You're certainly a fast learner. But can you take... this?" Dimentio taunted, teleported, and then two clones appeared next to him. All three Dimentios then created starbursts and hurled them at both Eliza and Romando.

The two were both having enough trouble trying to avoid starbursts from ONE Dimentio, let alone two more.

Eliza wondered about something. She knew that if they tried to hit a clone, it would just disappear. But if they got rid of both clones, Dimentio would just create more, and Eliza wasn't quick enough to jump on his head every time.

Immediately she came up with an idea. She took a steady stance, and when another starburst came her way, instead of dodging it, she concentrated very hard on making it fly backwards. It was hard, but rewarding. The starburst flew back towards Dimentio and hit him, causing him to flail for a moment in mid-air. Quickly, Romando realized what she was doing, and proceeded to do the same.

With their combined efforts, it only took a few hits to defeat Dimentio and bring him down to the ground.

"Uncle I say! Uncle!" He cried. He was lying on the ground. "Ha ha... My, what amazing powers you have..."

Eliza flinched a little, but remained quiet.

Romando spoke. "Why, father?"

"I am the king of the Tribe of Darkness... And the rightful master of the dimensions. Now, I suggest you leave, before I regain my strength and destroy you both." Dimentio said, gasping for air.

"Come on, Romando. We have to catch up with Nastasia." Eliza said. The two walked outside the overturned bedroom and flipped down to the forest.

"Ha ha... Ha!" Dimentio stood up where he was, and walked over to a pool of black blood. "Now, the show will go on! With magic!" He cried as he summoned the Chaos Heart.

* * *

Blumiere and Timpani were walking, attempting to follow a hyperactive girl from Flipside in hopes of finding Merlon. But, at the moment, they just seemed to be going in circles.

"Now, where are we?" Blumiere asked his wife.

"I... I don't know." The two were in a huge, empty field. There was a line of trees near the edge of the field.

"Wait! There's someone over there!" Timpani pointed to the trees.

Blumiere looked and saw three people emerging from the forest. "Maybe we should leave..." Blumiere turned to go the opposite direction, but his wife pulled on his white cape. "Is your monocle dirty? I think that's Nastasia!"

"What?" He questioned. The three mysterious people came closer to them. Blumiere recognized Nastasia now, but didn't know the human that was with her. He didn't see the third person. The couple walked towards the group.

"Nastasia?" Blumiere asked.

"Um, Count!" Nastasia came running up to him. The other two that were with her came running up behind her. "Count, you're okay!" Nastasia smiled, which was rare.

Blumiere chuckled. "Of course. And who might you be?" He gestured to the two now standing behind Nastasia. The human girl spoke first. "My name is Eliza. And this is Romando." She gestured to the young man standing next to her. He seemed somewhat irritated, and he was also quiet.

"I'm sorry, did you say Romando?" Blumiere asked.

Romando looked up. "Blumiere, is that you?" He asked.

Blumiere nodded, and the two embraced like long-lost friends. Stepping back, Romando said, "I'm so glad you're okay. I thought you were gone forever."

Eliza spoke. "Wait, so you two know each other?"

"Of course! He's my brother." Romando replied, overjoyed about finding his brother.

Blumiere smiled and bowed. "Count Blumiere Noir." He addressed the entire group. Timpani blushed next to him.

"Er, actually, it's 'Lord', not 'Count'." Romando said, carefully.

Blumiere looked up at him in a puzzled expression, though he still had a smile on his face.

"Father's still alive, and he's calling himself 'Dimentio'."

Blumiere's smile faded, and turned to a much more serious expression. Timpani had a look of worry on her face.

"All this time... It was him? He was the Dark One?" Blumiere whispered quietly.

"What?" Romando asked him.

Blumiere looked up at his brother and the human standing next to him.

Eliza's eyes opened wide and realized what was going on. She shook her head as she made eye contact with Lord Blumiere, without letting Romando see. He didn't know anything about Count Bleck.

"Um... Er, nothing. Tell me, how did you find this out?" Blumiere asked.

Timpani and Nastasia were standing quietly, off to the side.

"Eliza knows a bit more than I do." Romando replied. He leaned over to Eliza and whispered, "And perhaps this time you'll tell him everything."

Eliza glared at Romando, before taking a deep breath. She proceeded to tell them everything that happened thus far, though she hesitated about the wedding. When she finished, everyone was quiet. Blumiere in particular was nearly lost in thought.

He cleared his throat and addressed the group. "Dimentio must be using the Dark Prognosticus. As for the Chaos Heart, I suppose he used it and his own power to combine all these dimensions into one world."

Eliza was relieved he didn't say anything about the fact that she helped (though unwillingly) to create this dreadful object. She spoke, "I thought that the Chaos Heart was only supposed to make-"

Almost on cue, there was a low rumbling sound, and the group could feel vibrations under their feet. The sky darkened slightly as a small, dark, purple chasm opened, swirling and sucking in few particles.

"The Void..." Timpani uttered quietly.

Blumiere thought for a moment, then said, "The three of you should come with us to see Merlon. We have to hurry, though. As of now, time is not our friend, but rather, our enemy." He and Timpani started walking, so Eliza and Romando followed them, with Nastasia following quietly behind.

After a few minutes, Blumiere and Timpani were conversing quietly with each other, and Romando and Eliza were walking together in awkward silence.

Romando leaned over and whispered, "You're upset."

"No, I'm not." Eliza's gaze remained pointed straight in front of her.

"You're lying." Romando still seemed a bit irritated.

"Well, then I guess we both know that feeling."

"You didn't tell me you were married, especially to my father!" Romando's voice rose.

"Well, you didn't tell me you were the prince of your little tribe!" The two were glaring at each other now.

"I apologize, whenever I meet someone I always show them my title, bloodline, you name it! The least you could have done was tell me you were married!"

"Hey, I never wanted to get married! I never wanted to get wrapped up in all of this in the first place! It wasn't exactly my choice!"

"Ahem."

Blumiere and Timpani had stopped and were listening to the argument. "Romando, may I speak with you?"

"Be gentle on him, dear." Timpani whispered and gave her husband a quick peck on the cheek.

Romando walked forwards and switched places with Timpani, and the group continued walking.

"I suppose you wouldn't have anything to say to me, pertaining our 'special' friends?"

Romando thought for a moment, and then it clicked. "Oh... Yes. Erm, I am sorry I was rude to you towards Timpani, back in our tribe. I never realized your love for her was real."

"Well, now you know that feeling, hm?" Blumiere smirked at Romando.

"What? She needed help, so I helped her! And she rescued Nastasia, too!" Romando tried to defend himself. It wasn't working well.

"You like her." Blumiere teased his younger brother.

"I... I like her as a friend." Romando said.

"Which is why you kissed her?" Blumiere smiled playfully. He missed being with his brother these last 1,500 years. It was too long and lonely, even with (mostly) loyal minions, and all the power of darkness at his fingertips.

"I... How did you... Romando stammered.

"It figures well." Blumiere winked.

Behind them, Timpani and Eliza giggled loudly, with Nastasia smiling and enjoying herself next to them. Romando gestured towards them and spoke to his brother, "Why aren't you scolding them?"

Blumiere spoke in a matter-of-factly way. "Because you were acting like children." He gestured to the ladies with his sapphire staff. "They're acting like girls."

"Oh, well..." Romando rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Bowser continued complaining.

Princess Peach smacked her forehead, while Mario simply sighed. Luigi was keeping very quiet. He didn't want to have to face Dimentio again, considering what happened last time, but he figured that it would be safer to stay with his bro.

Bowser was really the only one talking, but the only things that came out of his mouth were complaints. Peach and Mario thought to themselves about the disasters that have occurred, starting with the massive earthquake, then The Void, newly opened and looming above their heads. Thankfully, it was still rather small, but they all knew that it would grow and eventually destroy the universe.

"Hey! Someone's over there!" Bowser shouted suddenly, and pointed towards a group of people walking together. Peach noticed that one of the persons was wearing a white top hat. Mario noticed as well, and proceeded to lead their party towards the other group.

Bowser spoke first, as the group of mysterious people recognized that there were others around. "Hey... It's the Count!" The one the heroes recognized as Count Blumiere smiled and tipped his hat to them. "My, is it a pleasure to see the Heroes of Light safe and sound! Now, I'm sure you remember my wife, Timpani?"

A beautiful young woman with long, light brown hair and bright green eyes stepped forwards. She had a pearly-white gown on, though it was slightly soiled, and a part of the dress was torn off of the bottom. The heroes almost didn't recognize her, until they saw a rainbow-colored ribbon tied in her hair.

"Oh, Tipp- I mean, Lady Timpani! It's so good to see you and Blumiere again! We really missed you both!" Peach exclaimed.

Blumiere, who was standing next to his wife, was beaming with joy.

"Yeah! I mean, how can I ever thank you for what you did for me and my wife?" Bowser was ecstatic, but Peach was now irritated again.

"I believe we can deal with that later." Blumiere told the Koopa King and the Princess quietly.

In the next few minutes, introductions were made with everyone, as well as a quick orientation on the current situation. Eliza was fairly quiet, partially because everything she'd seen so far was in a video game that Dimentio created. She tried to be polite, however, and didn't tell the Mario group that she already knew about them.

The friends were having such a great time with one another, that they almost forgot their original objective.

"Ah, I'm afraid we must be moving on. Mario, why don't you come with us? We also are going to see Merlon." Blumiere invited.

Mario nodded, and the four heroes and five friends joined parties to travel to Flipside together.

Over the next couple of hours, the group was walking in the direction of where the Flipside girl, Ashley, ran off. Everyone was getting to know each other and were catching up on recent events. The girls walked together and talked about their friends, families, and boyfriends, while the boys walked in their own group, talking about what's been happening since Dimentio came back.

Just as it was beginning to get dark, the group came upon a simple, yet elegant small stone building with glass double doors, and a red roof. However, there was nothing else around the building. The four heroes recognized the building (and Eliza, but she didn't say) and went inside.

Inside the small structure, everyone was amazed at the sights inside. There were four stained-glass windows, each with a single person depicted. In between the four windows was a mirror. At the end of the room was another door.

"Wow..." Was all Eliza could say. She marveled at the stained-glass windows before her. She recognized Merlumina almost immediately, who guarded a pure heart for nearly 1,500 years. Eliza saw two other windows that she didn't know as well, one of a man with a large mustache, and another of another woman.

She did recognize the last one, of a man. She couldn't see his face, but he looked different than the other three. Eliza wasn't sure why, though.

"Are you coming, Elizabeth?" Eliza shook her head, and saw Blumiere standing at the door, waiting for her. Everyone else was already outside. "Um, yeah. Coming." She glanced at the glass again and shook away a funny feeling she had. She followed Blumiere outside, and proceeded to Merlon's house with the others.

Outside, she saw a part of Flipside, with a card shop, and a fountain near the end of the road. Eliza followed Blumiere and the others up an elevator to the second floor of Flipside.

O'Chunks was wandering around the street, worriedly. When Nastasia stepped off the elevator, along with the Count and the others, he exclaimed, "Aye, Nassy! Yeh alright?" Nastasia smiled and went to him. "Yeah, I'm okay." O'Chunks replied, "I been worried about yeh, lass. Yeh said yeh were gettin' some things, but yeh never came back... And then this 'ere Void opened in teh sky..." He looked very worried. "Don't worry, O'Chunks. I'm fine now, k?" She gave him a reassuring smile, to which he smiled back. "And, Count! Yer back!"

"Yes, O'Chunks, it is a pleasure to see you again. However, I'm afraid we must be getting to Merlon's house." Blumiere said. Inwardly he was incredibly excited to see him again, but he restrained himself due to time concerns.

"Of course yeh do! Right down teh road, 'ere is! Go on!" O'Chunks and Nastasia smiled and waved them goodbye, as they traveled down the elevator to Saffron's house.

Continuing on, the party noticed that some of the residents of Flipside were walking around, debating about The Void, until they saw Blumiere, and becoming terrified, ran and hid indoors. Blumiere sighed and adjusted his monocle as Timpani held his hand in a reassuring way.

Everyone understood why the residents were terrified, that is, except Romando.

"Why is everyone so afraid?" He asked to no one in particular. Eliza saw Blumiere cringe. Thankfully, the group had just reached Merlon's house, and Mario knocked on the door. A voice from inside called, "Come in!". The four heroes walked in, followed by Timpani and Blumiere.

Eliza waited for everyone to go in, then stopped Romando. "Wait."

Romando paused and let the door shut in front of them.

"Look, I wanted to apologize about earlier. I should have told you about being married, and I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. Will you please forgive me?"

Romando smiled and spoke calmly. "Of course, Eliza. Actually, I was also going to apologize. I should have told you that I was a prince much sooner. Will you forgive me?" Eliza smiled back. "Of course I do."

The two embraced each other, both feeling safe again. Romando opened the door and let Eliza inside, where Mario, Peach, Bowser, Luigi, Blumiere and Timpani were standing around Merlon, who was holding a very old book.

"Ah, there you are! Merlon, I'd like you to meet my brother Romando, and our newest friend, Elizabeth." Blumiere beckoned.

"It's nice to meet you. You can just call me Eliza, though." Eliza said.

Merlon answered kindly, "Of course. Now, where was I..." He thought to himself.

"Ah, yes! I'm afraid that some of the Pure Hearts have disappeared from their pillars. Mario, thankfully they shouldn't be too hard to retrieve, since all of the doors are still open at the top of Flipside tower. Not all of them are missing, either. I suspect this may be because of the dimensions being combined with one another. I suggest you prepare yourself to retrieve them once we're done here. As for the rest of you," Merlon addressed Blumiere, Timpani, Eliza and Romando. "Blumiere filled me in on what has happened. I must thank you, Eliza, for saving Nastasia. And thank you, Romando, for helping the both of them."

Eliza and Romando blushed and stood awkwardly.

"As we all know, The Void has once again been opened above us, controlled by Dimentio and the Chaos Heart. We can assume he is under the direction of the Dark Prognosticus."

"But the Chaos Heart was created long before The Void was opened." Eliza pointed out.

"Correct. The Chaos Heart apparently has more power than before." Merlon answered.

"But even with Dimentio's magic, the Chaos Heart would need something else. It can't combine all these dimensions into one world and open The Void." Blumiere said.

Everyone noticed that Luigi was cowering behind Mario now.

"I don't think you're in any danger here, Luigi." Timpani reassured him.

"Right. If Dimentio needed the Man in Green, he would have retrieved you a long time ago." Blumiere said.

Suddenly, a young girl outside the house squealed loudly, making everyone turn and glance out the window. Sure enough, Ashley was watching Luigi with eyes as big as dinner plates. "It's Luigi!" And she screamed again.

Merlon sighed and went outside to deal with the young fanatic. The rest of the group remained inside, quietly. Blumiere and Timpani looked at each other and almost burst out laughing.

Merlon returned shortly. "Go on, now. Get home to your mother." And he closed the door behind him.

"Anyway, I've been studying the Light Prognosticus in hope of some direction. Almost everything in there has been fulfilled."

"Almost?" Peach questioned.

"Well, yes. A couple of weeks ago when the world was saved, I overlooked something in the end of this book. At the end, there lies a single sentence that I can't seem to figure out." Merlon lowered his eyes and opened the ancient tome, and cleared his throat.

"'Only the blood of an innocent traitor shall prevail'."

He closed the book and set it on its pedestal.

"But what does that mean? It sounds like a bunch of baloney to me!" Bowser said.

"With every answer only brings more questions. I will continue to study here. As for you, Mario, go and prepare for your quest to recover the Pure Hearts."

Mario nodded, and the four Heroes of Light stepped outside the wise wizard's home.

"What about us? What should we do?" Romando questioned.

"You've done enough as it is, and we thank you for that. But Dimentio is incredibly dangerous, and I couldn't bear to see either of you get hurt." Blumiere answered him.

"Everything I know, I know because of that video game. I could see everything from several perspectives! I know about the Pure Hearts, I know about the Dark Prognosticus! If I need to stay here in this world, I want to help!" Eliza said with determination.

"I know you do. But the two of you are younger, and much less experienced. Why, you only found out you even had your special abilities a couple of days ago! I know you want to go home as well, but if Dimentio picked you, he picked you for a reason. What that specific reason is, I can't imagine, but you're wrapped up in this. The best you can do for now is to stay safe." Blumiere said with concern.

Eliza sighed and nodded. "Okay."

Blumiere and Timpani smiled. "It's getting late. Why don't the two of you go to Tinga's inn and get some rest? You've had a long day." Timpani said.

Eliza and Romando nodded quietly and went outside, and started walking to the inn.

Romando paused momentarily and looked up at The Void, looming behind the clouds, which were reflecting the sun's rays and creating a beautiful sunset. The cool evening breeze blew calmly on the two standing there. "All my life I thought The Void was just a myth... I never thought about the destruction it could bring if it was real." He said quietly.

Eliza stood next to him, and they held hands. "This is my fault... The Chaos Heart, The Void... Was all because of me. I want to set things right." She said.

Romando smiled and patted her hand. "We will. I promise."

* * *

"Pierre... Pierre, my darling, I'm sorry I doubted you."

"About what, love?"

"I believe I had the same vision you did... About our daughter."

"Foi, it's quite alright, but do you know what we have to do?"

"We can't stay here, can we?"

"No. We have to leave as quickly as we can. Start gathering your things."

"But if the King finds out we left-"

"The punishment is far steeper if he finds out about our daughter!

And we have to do everything we can to protect her!"

"Pierre..."

"We need to leave the dimension now, but to where? Perhaps Merloo could help us?"

"Pierre!"

"What is it, love?"

"The baby's coming!


	6. Chapter 6

"-Chapter Six-

_She was running... She was running away from something... But what? Who was she, and why was she afraid? She was fast, but quickly she weakened... She knew she couldn't run anymore. There were others, coming closer._

_The woman said something. "I love you... I always will." She waved her hand and mumbled something. The others started yelling and came running faster._

_Suddenly, there was a flash of blinding light, and the woman fell. The others couldn't do anything to help her... She was gone. And the thing she was carrying had disappeared... What was she carrying? _

Something started shaking, and Eliza woke up. She thought for a moment about the tremors, but realized that it must be The Void, growing larger. She flopped her head back into her soft pillow and thought about her dream.

She'd had that dream again. It was much clearer this time, compared to before when she could only see the part about the light. But still, she couldn't recognize the woman. Why did she have this dream?

The light streaming in from the window told her that it was time to get up. She sat up and stretched, and looked over her arm. The wound looked like it had healed quickly, though there was a nasty black bruise underneath the skin.

"Oh, you're awake!" A cheerful voice called. Eliza looked up, and saw Tinga coming in from outside. "Good morning, dear. How did you sleep?" She asked kindly.

"I slept pretty well, thank you for letting me stay here." Eliza stood up and smoothed her dress.

"You're very welcome. Oh, I think one of your friends is waiting for you, outside." Tinga smiled. Eliza smiled back, energized by such a cheerful attitude.

"Thanks." She said simply, and walked outside.

She closed the door behind her, then closed her eyes as she felt the warm sunlight and soft breeze overcome her.

"Good morning, Eliza." A voice spoke. Eliza opened her eyes, and saw Romando standing there. "Did you sleep well?" He said, with a hint of laughter in his voice.

"I did, actually." Eliza said. She looked up at the sky. "What time is it?" She asked calmly.

"About 10:30. Timpani came back from the inn this morning before breakfast, and said you were still sound asleep. I knew you needed the rest, though."

Eliza blushed as she smiled sheepishly. "Uh... Thanks. I've never really been a morning person anyway."

Romando laughed kindly. He really did like to be around her.

"Oh, I almost forgot the reason I came." He said, regaining composure. Eliza stood up straighter.

"Ahem... Would a beautiful lady like yourself accompany me on a mid-morning stroll?" Romando said elegantly, with a broad smile.

"Why, sir, I am flattered! I would love to accompany you this fine day." Eliza responded with similar elegance, and a slight curtsey. When the two looked each other in the eye, they burst out laughing. The two began to walk through the town, holding hands and enjoying each other's company.

Blumiere walked outside from Merlon's house with Timpani and saw the young couple, walking together and laughing.

"Merlon wanted us to come get them." Timpani said. Blumiere, however, recognized the look each teenager had in their eyes, and spoke. "I think we should let them be, at least until after noon." Blumiere and his wife started walking together. "Growing up, Romando didn't really have many friends. Our mother died when he was born, and father never particularly cared for him as a result." He said quietly.

Blumiere and Timpani watched as the two teenagers made their way to the top of Flipside Tower.

"I think you would have fit in very well in my tribe." Romando continued, as the couple sat down on the edge of the tower.

"Except for sticking out like a sore thumb!" Eliza laughed. Romando chuckled in return.

"Perhaps. But you seem to have a great interest in history. And your eyes are the perfect color for a woman of the Tribe of Darkness."

"My eyes?" Eliza questioned.

"Well, yes. Women typically had blue, green, or violet eyes, while men had red, orange, or yellow eyes. Though it wasn't common to see a woman with yellow eyes, or a man with violet eyes, there were instances. Blumiere said our mother had red eyes." Romando smiled.

Just then, the ground shook as The Void grew larger above their heads. Eliza looked up at it. It wasn't very large still, but it was noticeably bigger than it was yesterday when it was opened.

"I wonder how much time we have?" Eliza said, not really asking an actual question.

"I believe that question is on everyone's minds now." Romando replied. "We should get going. We're supposed to meet the others at Saffron's for lunch." He stood. Eliza stood also, and in response, her stomach growled loudly. "And not a moment too soon!" Romando laughed.

"Oh, you..." Eliza laughed as well, and the two set off for Saffron's house to join their friends.

* * *

After filling herself with a delicious meal of a Shroom Steak and some warm cocoa, Eliza felt refreshed and re-energized as she and Romando left Saffron's restaurant. Coming out of the restaurant, Timpani managed to catch the teenagers before they went too far off. "Wait..." She started.

"Merlon wants to see all of us before Mario leaves." Romando and Eliza followed her to Merlon's house. Once there, Romando opened the door for the ladies, just as the ground shook and The Void grew again. He glanced up at the sky, and a sick feeling settled in his stomach as he went inside.

"Well, as you can all tell, The Void continues to grow larger." Merlon started. "The Void, once opened, only takes one week to grow to full maturity. Unfortunately, the rest of us are at a standstill until The Heroes collect the missing Pure Hearts. Thankfully, only three seem to be missing: The orange heart, guarded by my ancestor Merlumina in Yold Ruins, the blue heart, guarded in outer space by a young Prince Squirpian, and finally, the white heart, guarded by Queen Jaydes and King Grambi, rulers of the Underwhere and Overthere, respectively."

Just as Merlon finished, there was a knock at the door. Merlon walked over, and opened the door to reveal a young girl with green skin and pigtails. The girl walked inside and smiled as she spoke cheerfully. "Thanks, Merlon!" She looked at all the people already inside and squealed. "County, you're back!"

"Ah, Mimi! It's good to see you again." Blumiere kindly replied.

"What are you doing here, Mimi? I thought you were helping Merlee at her mansion?" Princess Peach asked.

"Well, since the Pure Heart came back, Merlee went back to her mansion. So she told me to come here and find Mario!" She smiled as she spoke with her cute, high-pitched girly voice.

Eliza smiled. This girl was so excited, but also such a sweet little kid.

"Well, Mario, now there's also the yellow heart, guarded by my relative, Merlee in Gloam Valley." Merlon said.

"That doesn't give them a whole lot of time, does it? Please, let us help!" Eliza pleaded. She was already starting to get sick of just sitting around.

"Even if you did, the guardians of the Pure Hearts are only supposed to give them to the Heroes of Light. The best we can do is plan a strategy for defeating Dimentio and destroying the Chaos Heart, and the Dark Prognosticus." Blumiere answered solemnly.

"Don't worry. We can take care of the Pure Hearts. We found them once before, and we'll find them again!" Peach said, triumphantly. Mario nodded in agreement, and led the other three heroes outside to head off on their journey. Eliza sighed after they left.

"Eliza..." Eliza looked up. Merlon spoke kindly, "Romando told me you have an interest in history. Why don't you look around the Hall of Mirrors, and see if you can find anything about the author of the Light Prognosticus." Eliza stood. and felt somewhat relieved to be doing something. "Um, sure, but why do you need to know about the author?" She asked, to which Blumiere answered. "Not much is known about the authors of both the Dark, and Light Prognosticuses. If there were a connection between the two, we may find a way to safely retrieve, and destroy the Dark Prognosticus."

Romando eyed his brother with suspicion. "You seem to know an awful lot about these dark objects."

"Well, some people pay more attention in school." Eliza answered quickly. Romando dropped it, and Blumiere glanced at her with a look of thanks. Eliza smiled back as she waved goodbye and walked back outside.

The sun was shining warmly that afternoon as Eliza made her way to the Hall of Mirrors. She opened the doors and stepped inside to a marvelous view of colors lighting up the walls, coming from the stained-glass windows. Eliza found it to be rather beautiful, and sighed as she slid down the wall and sat on the floor.

_This place is incredible... _She thought. This building was the only way to get to Flipside or Flopside from the rest of the world without flipping. The most probable reason for this was because the two towns weren't actually their own dimensions, but they were in between dimensions. Eliza was able to figure this out because it was mentioned in her game.

_So if everything in the game actually happened, _Eliza thought, _Then everything makes sense! _She thought back to the events in the game. _In one area, Tippi recognizes Dimentio, but the player never finds out why... But if Blumiere's father banished her before, it would only make sense she recognized the jester. _

Satisfied with her conclusion, Eliza's mind began to wander towards other things pertaining to this world. She felt sorry for Luigi, because he was used as a host for the Chaos Heart only a few weeks ago. While Eliza knew that he had been described as the 'Perfect host' by the Dark Prognosticus, she didn't really know why. Dimentio's motives seemed to all be a mystery.

That was another thing. Why was he doing this? Why did he join Count Bleck in the first place, if Dimentio knew that was his own son?

Eliza stood up. That would be something she would hopefully find out later. But for now, she had to focus on her current objective.

She looked around at the stained-glass windows, and noticed that there were plaques underneath all of them. She read the plaque underneath the purple window depicting a woman: "Merlimbis: Creator of the Purity Heart."

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, and moved on to the next one, one of a man with a very long mustache: "Merlight: Designer of Flipside and Flopside."

Eliza moved on to Merlumina's window, and read the plaque: "Merlumina: Guardian of a Pure Heart, and author of the Light Prognosticus."

Eliza's eyes lit up as she read the last few words. This was exactly what she was looking for! But before she left, she went over to the window of the man she recognized before, and read his plaque. Or, at least, tried to.

"Merloo: .. .f t.e .ig.. Pr..n.s..c.. an. m...b.. .. t.. ... o. ..." Eliza squinted her eyes as she tried to read the plaque. It was difficult to read the first part, but impossible to make out the last portion.

_Well, _She thought. _I already have what I need. I can ask Merlon about it. _

After taking one last look at the multitude of colors dancing about the room, Eliza stepped back outside and headed towards Merlon's house.

Once there, she opened the door to see Romando and Blumiere huddled together in private conversation. Noticing that Eliza was there, Romando quickly hid something behind his back. Eliza pretended she didn't notice, and turned to Merlon. "I found what you wanted. Merlumina was the author of the Light Prognosticus, but I think that Merloo was, too. I couldn't read much from his plaque."

Merlon nodded. "Thank you, Eliza. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you much about Merloo, but it may be beneficial to find out more about him." He pointed to his bookshelf full of old, worn-out books. "One of these books should tell help us." He walked over to the shelf and started scanning the many titles.

While he was doing this, Blumiere and Romando quietly excused themselves, promising to return in an hour. Eliza waved them goodbye, and then was left in the small house with Merlon.

"Ah! This may help us." Merlon pulled out a rather large and dusty book. "'History of the Tribe of Ancients'... This is it."

Eliza smiled and took the book from the wise wizard's hands, but had to set it on the floor due to its large proportions. Sitting on the floor, she opened the book, being careful not to rip the fragile pages. Merlon promptly took another book off of the shelf and sat down at his desk.

Taking a look at the first few pages, Eliza found what looked like a family tree, and it was very large. Surveying the names, she found Merlight, Merlimbis, and Merlumina's names clustered together. Following their lineages, she found several other names she knew: Bestovius, Merlee, Merluvlee, Merlon, and another Merlon. _Probably Nolrem... _She thought. The Merlon of Flopside reversed his name so that the Mario group could remember which Merlon was which.

Looking at the family tree, all these wizards were related... Except Merloo. Eliza found his name in a small box by itself, separated a bit from the others, but still in the same cluster with Merlight, Merlimbis, and Merlumina.

At this point, Eliza was very intrigued by Merloo. He apparently wasn't related to any of the other Ancients, and he looked different, too. She still couldn't figure out why, though. She started flipping through the large book to find out more about Merloo.

After reading through several chapters, Eliza wasn't finding anything about Merloo. He was really a mysterious person at this point.

Eliza was still sitting quietly on the floor reading when the door opened and Blumiere, Timpani, and Romando walked in.

"Back already?" Eliza asked as she stood.

"We came back right when we said we would." Romando answered, smiling. He was in a really pleasant mood, and Eliza noticed.

"Oh, well, I'm a huge bookworm anyway." She blushed. She often would read for hours without her realizing what time it was, which often hindered her sleep at night.

"Speaking of which, did you find anything?" Blumiere asked.

Merlon shook his head. "Nothing conclusive, I'm afraid."

"We found that Merlumina wrote the Light Prognosticus, but we also think that Merloo may have been involved. For some reason, we can't find out anything about him. Merlon's not even related to him." Eliza said. She started to shiver as the wind outside blew in. "Can we close the door, please?" She asked, rubbing her bare arms to warm herself.

"Oops... Sorry." Timpani shut the door behind her.

"Here... Use this to keep warm." Romando took a black cloak and draped it across Eliza's shoulders.

"Thanks." She said simply, and blushed. Romando blushed back at her, his face turning a deeper blue, almost black color.

Blumiere nudged his brother. "Oh, yeah..." Romando whispered to himself. He cleared his throat.

"Um... Eliza..." He felt his face getting hot. Blumiere and Timpani were watching him as they held each other's hand.

"Would you... Um..." He stammered a little. Eliza was standing there very awkwardly, wondering what he was trying to ask.

Before Romando could ask his question though, four transparent boxes opened up around Eliza, Blumiere, Romando and Timpani, swiftly trapping them. Everyone was looking around frantically, surprised by this abrupt event. Before anyone could even say anything, the boxes suddenly exploded and shattered, all with the people inside.

Merlon opened his eyes as the smoke cleared, and bowed his head gravely as he realized that his friends were no longer in this world.

* * *

"Ungh..." It was dark, and Eliza had a splitting headache.

"Eliza... Are you awake?" Someone asked. Eliza opened her eyes and saw Blumiere standing over her. She was lying on the grass.

"Where... What happened?" Eliza tried to stand, but her headache just made her really lightheaded and dizzy. Blumiere caught her before she fell.

"Hold on..." He helped her sit down gently on the ground. "You were just attacked. You're not ready to go anywhere just yet." Blumiere said softly. He got up and went to check on Timpani and Romando.

Eliza's head finally stopped spinning and the stars in her eyes cleared so that she could see. Looking around, she saw that she, Blumiere, Timpani and Romando were all in a very dark and desolate world. There was no sun shining, and the sky was gloomy. It was almost frightening, just sitting there.

"Hey! You're all awake!"

Eliza nearly jumped after hearing such a loud voice so suddenly.

A black creature made its way over towards the group. "Wow... All of you coming at the same time? Must've been an earthquake or something." He said.

Romando and Timpani were awake now, and were a little surprised at the creature.

"Well, lot's of folks say there was an earthquake, anyway... But it doesn't matter anymore, right?"

Eliza was still sitting on the ground, and listening to the loud, obnoxious creature, thought that her headache would never get better.

"Hey, it's your first visit to the Underwhere, right? 'Course, no one ever comes here twice."

Timpani spoke as she and Romando stood. "Mario did..."

The black creature sputtered. "Well... He... Uh... He was the Hero of Prophecy. That's different."

Ignoring the creature, Romando walked over to Eliza and helped her up. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah... What happened?" Eliza replied. Romando reached under her black cloak and held her waist to help support her, since she was still a bit dizzy.

"You're in the Underwhere, land of ended games! What do ya say to that?" The black creature said rather loudly in response to Eliza's question.

"Ended... Games?" Eliza questioned as she stood there, supported by Romando.

"Y'know... Game over, no more lives, World -1, the Underwhere! Get it now? You're dead!"

"D-dead?" Eliza didn't feel any better now, for sure.

"It'll be okay. I've been here with Mario before." Timpani assured her. Feeling a little better, Eliza nodded in response. "I'm afraid you'll have to excuse us, we need to see Queen Jaydes about getting back home." Timpani told the black creature. Almost surprisingly, the creature was quiet and nodded to her.

The four then promptly began to walk towards what would hopefully be their way home.

Timpani leaned over to Eliza and whispered, "That was a shayde, an inhabitant of the Underwhere." Eliza nodded and whispered back, "Thanks."

Before they got too far, they saw an ornate fountain, surged with a strange, orange liquid. A shayde standing next to the fountain noticed them and spoke. "Hey, this fountain? Go ahead and take a sip, dunk your head, whatever floats your boat. It'll cure you right up."

Taking notice to him, Romando helped Eliza (who was still fairly lightheaded) down to the fountain to drink. Just by smelling the orange substance, Eliza began to feel better already. She reached her hands in, rippling the surface of the substance, and drank from her hands. It reminded her of orange soda, but without the carbonation.

"Are you okay?" Romando asked. Standing confidently, Eliza felt her head's constant pounding lessen, and disappear.

"I'm great!" She answered with a smile on her face.

Romando smiled back with relief. "Good."

Romando, Blumiere and Timpani drank from the fountain, and all were feeling very refreshed and ready to move on. The four started walking forward, and after a minute, came to a river of purple water.

By the river's edge was a shady man in a boat. Peering in, Eliza could see large, skeletal hands floating through the murky depths, and shuddered.

"Excuse me, sir, would you give us all a ride across?" Blumiere asked the man in the boat.

The man answered with a deep, yet somewhat squeaky voice. "Heh heh... So you need a ride? Well, it's 10 coins a person, so your total comes to... 40 coins."

"I'm afraid we don't have any money." Timpani admitted embarrassedly.

"Well, no money, no ride. Have fun swimming." The man said, irritably.

Blumiere and Romando looked at each other and smirked. Blumiere took hold of Timpani, while Romando asked Eliza, "You want to try? I don't think you want to go swimming in that, do you?"

Eliza stifled a laugh and answered, "No, not really. I must have forgot my bathing suit."

Blumiere and Romando, with Blumiere holding Timpani, both floated up in the air, and flew over the entire river. Eliza floated up shakily and flew over the entire river as well, and landed on the other side with them. At the other side, Blumiere let his wife down, and they all continued on to see Queen Jaydes, leaving the man at the other side of the river speechless.

Continuing through the bleak world, Eliza couldn't help but think about why they all were here. She figured that Dimentio did this, but why? It seemed that every day only more and more questions arose. She was sick of it. She wanted some answers, and soon. They had less than a week before the universe would be destroyed, and Eliza hoped that Mario could get all of the Pure Hearts in time.

Finally the group came to a dark gray structure made of stone and supported by columns. Walking to the back end of the structure, there were little pink creatures everywhere with horns, wearing suits. Eliza and Timpani recognized them as D-Men, assistants to Queen Jaydes.

The four reached the place where Queen Jaydes should have been, but she wasn't there. A D-Man stood in her place, and he spoke up. "Hey, you wanna see Queen Jaydes? Yeah, bit of a problem. See, she went up to the Overthere today, and left me in charge of the scales. You still wanna go up?" He asked. He didn't seem irritated or mean like the boat man, but more secretarial.

"Yes, please." Timpani nodded.

"Okay, I'll need you all to get in a line, I can only weigh your sins one of you at a time." The D-Man got out a set of brass scales while the four gathered into a line, with Timpani first, followed by Romando, Eliza, then Blumiere last.

Eliza was feeling a bit nervous, because they all needed to go back, and this was really the only way. She was sure everyone else felt the same way.

"M-kay, Lady Timpani Noir." The D-Man thought to himself while he uttered quietly.

"Pure and noble heart... Very generous, assisting the Heroes of Prophecy, showing kindness and hospitality to those even of other species..." The scales he had tipped up at one side. "Yep! You're good. Please stand behind me." Timpani walked over and stood behind him, feeling relieved.

"Okay, Lord Romando Noir..." The D-Man continued. "Second-born prince of the Tribe of Darkness... Kindness in your heart, assisting two girls you barely knew when they were in great need... Ridiculing your brother a bit, but then again, who wouldn't tease their sibling? Well, I suppose that coming from that tribe, you could've turned out a lot worse. Yep, you're good." Romando breathed a sigh of relief, and stood next to Timpani.

Eliza stepped forward. "Okay, Eliza Richards... Let's see... Interesting..." Eliza's heart began to beat faster. _What was interesting?_ The scales the D-Man had tipped gently to one side. "Oh, I mean, very nice. Risking your safety to help a girl you didn't know is a biggie. Kind heart and pure intentions, very nice. Just quit bugging your brothers so much. You're good." Eliza sighed and walked next to Timpani and Romando, her chest feeling much lighter.

"Okay, one more... Lord Blumiere Noir, firstborn prince of the Tribe of Darkness..."

Eliza's heart suddenly sank even lower than she thought possible as she realized what would happen. _Oh no no no no no... _She cringed and bit her lip. She could see that Blumiere was sweating as he waited, also nervous about the outcome.

"Oh, my..." The D-Man's eyes opened wide as Timpani winced, but Romando was puzzled.

"You... Disobedient to your father on several occasions, stole your tribe's most secret and dark possession, destroyed your dimension to both fulfill an evil prophecy and get rid of your father, went under the persona of 'Count Bleck' to complete the dark prophecies, force-wed two innocent people to create the Chaos Heart which then opened up The Void which would destroy all dimensions... Oh no..." The D-Man shook his head as the scales tipped menacingly to one side, a different side this time.

Blumiere's heart was pounding furiously. Sweat fell from his head, and his monocle was fogging up. Timpani and Eliza were both incredibly nervous, nearly shaking with suspense. As for Romando, he was absolutely shocked and appalled.

"But, in light of events since then... Sacrificing yourself to save the universe, that really changed things... Caring for your wife, helping your brother and his girlfriend get to a safe place, hmm..." The D-Man studied the scales, which were now tipped so that they were even. "Wow, this almost never happens! Your scales are completely even. If it were just a bit more, you could enter, but I'm afraid..."

Having an idea, Eliza spoke up. "Wait! Let me stay in his place while he goes."

"What? No!" Blumiere responded.

"You know more about the situation than I do, and you need to stay with your wife." Eliza said. Blumiere, however, wouldn't have any of it.

"That's very kind of you, but it's my debt. You will go on with the others, I will not let you stay here."

"Oh, Blumiere..." Timpani said softly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay, okay! You're good to go." The D-Man said loudly.

"What, really?" Blumiere looked confused.

"Yeah. You were offered to go ahead in place of another, but you showed great humility and consideration for that person. You're good."

The D-Man stepped back, and a large door appeared. "Go ahead, the Overthere is through the Underwhere road."

Timpani walked through, followed by Romando and Blumiere, who smiled warmly at Eliza. The D-Man stopped Eliza for a moment and whispered. "Nice try. You got really lucky with that stunt you pulled."

Eliza smiled and answered, "I seem to be really lucky these days."

The D-Man rolled his eyes and shook his head as the door to the Underwhere closed.

* * *

The road ahead was dark and rather musty, but what was worse was that Romando was furious with Blumiere.

"You... I can't believe it was you! You're the one that destroyed the dimension and killed everybody! How ironic, everybody except the one person you wanted dead, right?"

Blumiere grunted as he pulled his wife up a platform. He didn't speak.

"I... I can't believe you would do that, after stealing that dark, evil book. Did you even know what would happen?" Romando asked, enraged.

Blumiere opened a door and let everyone through, before stepping through himself and letting it shut behind him. The four continued through the dark road.

"Yes, actually, in a sense." Blumiere said in response to Romando's question. Romando was a little surprised, and quieted down a bit.

"Well, then how did you know? Father would never have told you about that thing." He asked.

Blumiere sighed. "I once had a very good friend when I was much younger... He was like a mentor to me. His name was Pierre Fonce. You wouldn't remember him, Romando, you were too young. Anyway, if I ever had a question, he would be ready to help me figure it out. He was very kind and thoughtful, and he was more of a father to me than our own father." Blumiere had a softer expression as he remembered his best friend.

"How did you know him?" Romando asked quietly. The girls were listening quietly as the group moved forward.

"Before I was even born, Pierre was father's most loyal and trusted advisor, and I always thought that they were best friends beneath their formal relationship. Before you were born, Pierre's wife Foi and our mother were best friends as well, so I was nearly always around one of them. When mother died, Pierre and Foi really stepped up and helped not only father, but with the two of us. Pierre was mostly with father, while Foi was like a mother to us, reading us stories and comforting us when we were saddened... They were both wonderful people.

The answer to your first question is that I asked Pierre about the Dark Prognosticus one day, I think I was maybe ten years of age. He told me that it was a very evil book, that if someone would read it, they would go mad because that future was so grim. At that age, it certainly frightened me off the subject a bit."

The group was quiet as they came out from the Underwhere road and outside onto the Overthere stair. The Void loomed in the sky behind all the clouds, which were beginning to turn into several shades of oranges, pinks and blues as the sun was setting. The view was simply breathtaking. Even the purples of The Void seemed to contribute to the beautiful sunset against the blue sky.

Walking up the clouds in the Overthere stair, Eliza felt as if she were actually a part of the sunset, something she knew she could never experience back home. The scenery calmed everyone down a bit, thankfully.

Romando asked Blumiere, continuing with their conversation, "Whatever happened to them? Did they have any children?"

Blumiere sighed thoughtfully. "Before you were quite two years old, Foi and Pierre were expecting their first child. And, they believed that it was a girl." He paused for a moment. "You were even betrothed to her, before she was even born."

Romando was very quiet for a moment, then said, "Whatever happened? I've never heard of my own betrothal."

Blumiere cleared his throat, and stared off into the sky as the all walked across the clouds. "I'm sorry. I can't discuss this anymore."

The sun was nearly set, and the sky was darkening. The Void still loomed above everyone's heads ominously.

"In any case, we must stop. We'll have to wait until morning to continue, it's too dark now." Blumiere said.

Eliza relaxed a little at the thought of resting for the night.

"I'll go find some firewood." Blumiere went off alone to find the wood, while Timpani, Eliza, and Romando were left with each other.

"You... The two of you knew about Count Bleck, right?" Romando asked the girls quietly.

Timpani sighed. "Yes." She nodded, ashamed.

Eliza also answered, "Yeah."

Romando sighed and gazed off into the sky.

Eliza felt guilty about lying to him, and so did Timpani. They knew that Blumiere felt even worse about all this, and with reason. While the issue of Count Bleck was a bit more complicated, it was him who tried to destroy all worlds.

After a few minutes of silence Blumiere came back with an armload of wood and Romando quietly helped him set up a fire. Everyone settled down and relaxed under the darkness of the night next to the warm, crackling fire.

Lying on her side, Eliza's head was full of thoughts as she gazed into the fire. She thought about when her family went camping one summer, and it wound up raining on the last day. Also, somehow an animal made its way into the food and her family had to go out to a fast-food place for lunch that day. But through the whole trip, Eliza had a lot of fun with her family. It was one of the best vacations she ever went on. Smiling, she thought about how much her family loved her. She thought about what they were doing now, and whether The Void had spread to her world. She sighed, and pulled her cloak up around herself as she rolled over. _I've been gone from home for several days... I want to let my family know that I'm okay._ Eliza was feeling very homesick now. She sighed again as she tried to get in a more comfortable position for sleep, but after many attempts, didn't succeed. Facing the fire again, she saw that Timpani was fast asleep, her long light brown hair falling over her arms and shoulders. Blumiere and Romando were huddled together, talking quietly. Eliza stayed still to listen in.

"Why did you ever take that book?" Romando asked.

"Because of what father did. The night I was going to leave with Timpani, father got to her first and put a horrid curse on her. At the time, I thought she was gone forever... I truly loved her then as I do now. I couldn't bear to live without her." Blumiere answered solemnly. Romando was quiet for a moment, then he spoke again, softly. "Blumiere, I really am sorry I bothered you so much about her."

"It's fine. You knew that father hated humans, so naturally you followed with what everyone else believed. I did too before I met Timpani. Now that you have Eliza, you know more of what I felt for Timpani." Blumiere replied. "She is... Incredible."

"She really is..." Romando sighed. Blumiere spoke again, but with a more curious tone. "Incredible that she has such powers. No average human has any powers like ours."

Timpani rolled over in her sleep nearby, so the men spoke more softly.

Eliza couldn't hear them any longer. _No average human... _She thought.

Eliza tried to sleep, though she had too many thoughts rolling around in her head. She laid there for an hour, still thinking to herself. Everyone was asleep already, and the fire was still crackling as it lit up the small area of clouds. Eliza rolled over yet again and pulled her cloak up even higher, when she heard a very soft _thump _next to her. Puzzled, she felt around for whatever made that sound, and finally her hand rested on something rectangular and hard. She picked up the mysterious object, and viewed it in the firelight. Suddenly her heart started racing as she realized what she was holding... The Dark Prognosticus!

Her head was swimming in all the thoughts and questions she had about the evil tome she held. She suspected that Dimentio planted it after he sent the four of them to the Underwhere. Why he did it, was the big question. Eliza thought about what Blumiere said yesterday, now that it was surely past midnight. _He said that we needed to find some way to stop Dimentio. Well... He was under the instruction of this book... If we knew what he knew, we could plan a way to stop him and the Chaos Heart. _Eliza was nervous about opening the book, and caught herself before she did. _Remember back to the game... Everyone who read the book, wanted to know their future, become rich and famous, and went mad. They were greedy. I want to help save the universe, not destroy it or use it for selfish purposes. _Taking a deep breath, she carefully opened the book, gently turning the cover over. She had opened to the middle of the book, and couldn't quite understand what was written. The ink was black and the handwriting cursive, but the meanings of the phrases seemed cryptic.

Glancing through, Eliza wasn't sure how anyone could stand to read this. She slowly and carefully turned to the front of the book, hoping that everyone would stay asleep. Glancing at the first few pages, the writing was noticeably different in the way it was handwritten and in the grammar itself. She looked around, and seeing that everyone was fast asleep, began reading.

_As I lay here on my deathbed, I write my final memoirs. If there is someone who will actually read this, it is because they will read this dark book for the very reason I wrote it: To save the universe from terminating destruction._

_I began having terrible visions. Those who are born with magic in their blood, whether from the Tribe of Ancients, or the people of Darkness, can occasionally have visions. These visions could be of the future or the past, and have been known to be in the form of hallucinations and dreams. The people of Darkness tend to see more of the darker side of the vision, while the Ancients tend to see the more hopeful side, while it is all the same past, or future._

_I was sleeping one night more than 1,000 years ago when suddenly I had a vision of a dark and frightening future, in which the universe ended. At first I ignored it, but when I kept seeing it again each night, I worried. I knew I couldn't just let it be. I had to let others know what I saw, while at the same time I wasn't ready; our people were often frowned upon because of what we were. _

_I had to write down what I saw. However, if I simply wrote it down with a simple quill and ink, if something ever happened to the book, then the world would never know what to expect when the time came. I knew that our people's blood contained a great deal of specific magic which the Ancients did not possess, which gives us the ability to fly, use special attacks, and use spells and curses, along with the regular flipping. So I decided to try writing with a small sample of my blood. I went to the outskirts of the dimension, and wrote down a simple thing I wanted to have happen. I wrote that both of my sons would become great magicians, being very skilled in their abilities. That very evening my sons already were proving to be more skilled than before, even at the young ages they were. It was then I realized my hypothesis had been proven, that our magical blood could be used to write down prophetic comings._

_From that point on, I wrote down what I saw in my visions every night, though I was careful to leave sections and gaps where a more hopeful prophecy could take its place._

_My wife and two sons often worried about me, and I regret to say that I often brushed them off. I wish now that I had listened when they told me to rest, and spent more time with them._

_After I finished writing this dark book, some of the members of the Tribe of Ancients found out what I had done and they confiscated the book from me. For years I had no idea what the other Ancients were doing... Our people tended to stay separated from them, anyway. I watched my sons grow up into the powerful magicians they are now, from my deteriorating mind which had been changed by these horrible visions. They learned to rely on their mother through my sufferings, but when she died, I often feared that my two sons would have changed dramatically from that, but thankfully, they were able to continue their normal lives they lived._

_For nearly 1,000 years, the Ancients had the dark book in their possession. I knew they were using it, because they created pixls, small creatures that are made for a single, specific purpose. The Ancients eventually became reliant on the pixls, which I know will lead to their ultimate downfall eventually. Only a short while ago, there was an immense pixl that arose and called herself the Pixl Queen. She began to control all other pixls and enslave the population, and the Ancients became devastated, having suddenly lost the ability to rule their own empire. Wave after wave of soldiers attempted to vanquish the Pixl Queen, but they could never make it past the enslaved pixls. One survivor, however, made it to the Queen's castle; my younger son._

_The Pixl Queen used her powers of illusion to hide, and she unleashed horrifying images upon my younger son. He saw his mother, being murdered by humans within the Tribe of Ancients, which was a lie. These images terrified him so, and if a lone pixl by his side did not give up his life to assist him, the Pixl Queen may still be in control now._

_After she was vanquished, my son came to me and told me what he saw, and I told him what he must do now. These very things happened because the Ancients had learned from this book I created. I told my younger son to find the book this same night, and to gather the people of Darkness to leave for a separate dimension I created prior to the Pixl Uprising, with a large castle amidst a dark forest. There, the dark book would be kept safe and away from anyone who would want to use it for their own desires._

_My health deteriorating, I cannot go with my people, and I know that my older son Merloo will not, either. The Ancients have affected him in a good way. He wants to stay and learn from them, and I know he will contribute much to their ways. He may even be the one to help write the hopeful prophecy to counter this one!_

_My younger son, then, must rule the people. I have already arranged a marriage for him, so he is not to live in loneliness and depression as I have. _

_My deepest prayer is that the universe shall continue to live and prosper as it has since the beginning of time, that my efforts... Shall not have been in vain._

_"Eliza!"_

Eliza jumped and nearly screamed, having been very startled from the sudden interjection. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Romando was coming over to her, looking very much infuriated.

"Eliza, what are you doing with that horrible thing? Surely you know what could've happened if you read it?" He cried. His shouts woke Timpani and Blumiere, who rose and saw Romando yelling at Eliza.

"You could have gone simply mad just from opening it! That book is nothing but trouble!" He continued.

Eliza attempted to get a word in. "But I think-"

"That's just it! You didn't think! I don't know how you got ahold of that thing, but you should have at least told the rest of us!"

"Now, Romando, I think Elizabeth has the right to-"

"Don't tell me what you think! You used that book as well!" Romando grunted. "I don't even know who to trust anymore!" Romando was in a fit of rage, and confusion.

Before the fight could make much more progress, though, Dimentio suddenly appeared, floating in midair.

"Well, well... What now? Hasn't your father taught you to play nicely?" He taunted in a sarcastic tone. He snapped his fingers, and a clear box opened up around Eliza as she hid the Dark Prognosticus in her cloak.

"What are you doing?" Romando cried as he started toward Dimentio, but Blumiere held him back. Ignoring him, Dimentio turned his attention toward Eliza.

"Now, I have an offer you simply can't refuse. Join me. Assist me. And I will keep your three-dimensional world safe, and you will help me rule the rest of these pathetic dimensions, which I will re-form into our own likenesses. What is your answer?"

Blumiere, Romando and Timpani watched helplessly as Eliza hesitated momentarily. She shook her head.

Though she wasn't happy with how Romando reacted, she would never help Dimentio destroy everything.

"You have made the wrong decision, like milk that has turned sour in the sight of a thirsty traveller... Aha ha... Ciao!"

He snapped his fingers, teleporting Eliza away, leaving Blumiere, Romando and Timpani in utter shock and surprise. Romando's heart sank to what felt like its lowest possible place in his body.

"Where did you send her?" Romando asked Dimentio.

"Aha ha... I am not inclined to answer my disobedient son's silly questions. Now, I take my leave! Ciao~" He teleported away, and the remaining three were left to find their way out of the Overthere to eventually stop The Void... And if possible, find their missing friend.

* * *

"Foi... Darling, you did wonderfully."

"Is... She..."

"Our daughter... She's healthy, but... Our visions were proved correct.

Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, love... I just want our daughter to be safe."

"I do as well. We still need to-"

"Pierre, someone's at the window!"

"What? No... He already saw us! He's running back to the castle!

Foi, you need to take our daughter and leave!"

"What, no! Pierre, I'm not going to leave you!"

"You have to! You have to leave now, there's no time!"

"But I know what will happen, Pierre! I love you... I don't want to lose you!"

"Foi, I can only stall for a short while here while you leave the dimension and find Merloo. He will help you. I love you so much... Now, go!"

"...Esperance."

"What?"

"Our daughter's name. Like what we saw in our visions."

"Perfect. Now, go. Go!"

"I love you!"

"...I love you... Both."


	7. Chapter 7

-Chapter 7-

Blumiere, Timpani, Romando and Eliza were traveling through the Overthere in hopes of getting back to Flipside, but were shocked to see Dimentio suddenly appear and teleport Eliza away.

Eliza hid the Dark Prognosticus she had found earlier in her cloak as she felt the strange spinning sensation come over her, and then landed roughly on her hands and knees. She shut her eyes as her head spun, and opened them again to take in her new surroundings.

She was on a grassy lawn, and was also in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Rain was rapidly falling, and the wind was whipping around menacingly. Eliza stood up and realized that she was back on Earth, standing in front of her house! She walked up to the front door, and opened it as it was unlocked. Dripping wet, she walked into the living room to see her mom and her 13-year old neighbor Sarah with her own mom, sitting down and conversing.

"Mom?" Eliza said, her heart racing.

Her mom looked up with tears in her eyes, and quickly stood and ran over to embrace her daughter. "Oh, Eliza... Oh, we were all so worried about you! What happened? Are you okay? Where were you?" She asked frantically.

So tightly hugged, Eliza could barely breathe. Her friend and her mom sat there on the couch watching the whole thing.

"Mom, I'm fine. Really." Eliza pulled away and took a deep breath, and the book she had hidden fell on the floor.

Eliza's expression changed to one of embarrassment as she quickly picked up the dark book.

"Eliza, what's that?" Her mom asked suspiciously.

Sara leaned over and excitedly said, "That's the Dark Prognosticus, right?"

The adults looked confused, and Eliza felt really hot and ashamed.

"The... What?" Sara's mom asked. "The Dark Prognosticus! An evil book from Super Paper Mario, y'know, that game I have? But I didn't know it was actually real..." Sarah replied excitedly.

Before Eliza could respond, she started feeling dizzy again, and feeling like she was going to be very sick, groaned and collapsed in the middle of the living room.

* * *

The room was warm... Eliza pulled the covers up tighter around her and dug her head deeper into her pillow. She moaned softly as the sunlight shone brightly through her window. Opening her eyes, she sat up to see her mom peeking into her bedroom. "Mom?" She asked softly.

"Yes, dear?" Her mom walked in and sat on the bed next to Eliza.

"What's been going on here?" Eliza asked as she peered out the window at The Void, swirling above the clouds. It seemed a little bit larger than it was in the Overthere.

Her mom sighed and began. "Well, after you disappeared, we called all of your friends and told them to keep an eye out. We wound up calling the police, but when this black hole showed up, people started doing crazy things and all of the police officers, and even the firefighters, were called back to their stations, leaving me and your brothers here to wait anxiously. I called your dad and he'll be back tonight to see you, but everyone's been really busy responding to 911 calls." Her mom still looked worried, and Eliza noticed.

"So... What day is it?" She asked.

"Sunday. Why?"

"Sorry, I meant, how many days ago did The Void appear?"

"You mean that black hole? This is the fourth day it's been in the sky."

"Oh..." Eliza cringed. That didn't give her much time. She knew she had to get back to the other world, but at this point, she couldn't flip over such a long distance. She only had four days total, including today, before it would be too late for all worlds.

Eliza's mom lovingly squeezed her hand. "Well, go ahead and get dressed, lunch will be ready soon. Oh, and I threw your dress in the wash, it was really dirty." She stood up and left the room.

Eliza sighed and got up as she noticed her left arm had a large, black bruise on it. It wasn't much different than it was a couple of days ago, but it still looked a stranger color than a normal bruise. She shook it off and changed out of her pajamas into her favorite t-shirt and jeans, and sat at her desk. She noticed that her mom must have set the Dark Prognosticus on the desk, thankfully it didn't look like it had been opened.

Eliza opened up the tome. _If I'm going to be here a while, I might as well try to learn something._ She thought. She glanced at her Wii, the remotes and games scattered around the television, indicating that her brothers had been playing it. She shook her head. Normally, she'd be mad at them, but she didn't particularly care right now. There were too many other things to think about than being angry at her siblings over some video games. She sighed again as she stood and went downstairs for lunch, too distracted anyway to do much.

After lunch, Eliza went back upstairs to resume her attempts at studying. It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door.

Hiding the Dark Prognosticus, Eliza responded. "Come in."

The door creaked open and Eliza's friend Adrianna walked in, looking excited. Eliza's eyes lit up to see her best friend.

"Hey, I heard you were back! What's up?"

Eliza stood up. "I'm fine. I'm really glad to see you." She said with a broad smile on her face. Adrianna smiled back and pulled out a small, plush toy. "Hey, check this out! I made it myself." She handed the plushie over to Eliza, who turned it over and examined it. It was a small Dimentio plush. It did look pretty cute. Eliza handed it back to her friend, who promptly squeezed it. "I love it more than life itself... I would go and marry Dimmy, if I could!"

After hearing this, Eliza wasn't sure whether she would laugh or barf. She coughed. "Well, you can have him..." She said as she sat down at her desk again. Adrianna sat down on Eliza's bed as she kicked off her shoes. "Well thanks, I think. I didn't even know you liked him." Adrianna said, with a huge smile on her face. She was really enjoying herself, which Eliza was glad to see.

"No, but I figure that you might want to ask his wife first." She carefully teased.

Adrianna was puzzled. "His... wife? You mean he's already married?" She asked.

Eliza sighed. It was time she told somebody what really happened over the last week. "Yeah... Me." She said, a little more seriously.

Adrianna almost fell off the bed as she burst out laughing. Eliza watched her laugh as she picked up a pencil and fiddled with it.

"You're married to Dimentio? But I always thought that you were more of a Count Bleck fangirl!" Adrianna continued to laugh. Eliza sighed yet again. Adrianna didn't believe her.

She began calmly. "Well, no; Blumiere is married to Timpani now... and I can prove this is real." She pulled out the Dark Prognosticus and held it up in front of her so her friend could see. Almost immediately, Adrianna gasped and stood, her eyes wide open. "Is that... So it's all actually real?"

Eliza nodded.

"What happened? And tell me everything!" Adrianna exclaimed as she sat down to listen.

"Okay... But it's kind of a long story."

Eliza told her friend everything that happened to her over the past week, from when Dimentio suddenly appeared in front of her in this very room, to yesterday morning, when he teleported her here from the Overthere. It was several minutes before she finished, but Adrianna was listening with her full attention and all seriousness.

When Eliza finished, she caught her breath, while her friend spoke. "Wow... Dimentio's a lot scarier than he seemed... But this Romando guy seems really cool!" Her eyes lit up.

Eliza smiled. "Yeah... But we got into a fight over this thing." She held up the dark tome. "And he got really mad. I'm kind of worried about him." In truth, she was; he had seemed so confused earlier. She also hoped that he and the others were able to make it out of the Overthere safely.

"Soooo... What are you going to do now?" Adrianna asked.

Eliza thought for a moment. That was really the big question now, wasn't it? "Well, The Void is almost half-grown. There's only 3 days left after today, though I really need to get back to the others before day 7... but I don't know how." Eliza frowned. She had enough difficulty flipping over a few feet, much less an entire universe; she couldn't push that out of her mind.

"No, I meant about Romando." Adrianna smiled her big, goofy smile.

Eliza snapped out of her daze. "What about him?" She asked.

"Remember all those princess movies we watched when we were little?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't really-"

"What was your biggest dream then?"

"I don't really remember."

"To be a princess and meet your Prince Charming!"

"But that was when I was little, Adrianna." Eliza rolled her eyes at her friend's antics.

"So? You have yourself a charming prince! As soon as you go back, just kiss him and go off and be a princess!"

Eliza laughed. "Okay, thanks for the help..." She said in a slightly sarcastic tone as she opened up the Dark Prognosticus and began to read.

Adrianna sat quietly, fiddling with her Dimentio plush and watching Eliza read. After thinking to herself for a while, she had an idea. "Hey, why don't you study the game? Since it all really happened, you could find out a way to stop The Void and get back!"

Eliza looked up.

"I could help you take notes... And I bet we could find someone else to help, too."

Eliza gazed out the window as she thought about the plan her friend had just described. It really was good idea; there wasn't much else she could do besides study the Dark Prognosticus, which was horridly difficult with its cryptic wording.

She nodded. "Okay, sure. We have about 2 more days, so that I can get back in time to prepare for the final confrontation with Dimentio. We need to hurry."

Adrianna smiled, stood up, and picked up a Wii remote. "Great! You study the book, I'll get started. Do you have a notebook I could borrow?"

Eliza pulled out a pad and handed it to her. "Remember... I'll need all the notes you can find, especially on the Dark Prognosticus, Chaos Heart, Dimentio, Count Bleck and his father... Oh, and Merloo." She said.

Adrianna simply nodded and sat down to play, just as The Void outside grew again and the ground shook. Eliza sighed and started to read again, hoping to find something useful before dinner and seeing her dad tonight.

Eliza turned the ancient pages of the Dark Prognosticus as she listened to Super Paper Mario's opening story, the one that shows the wedding between Princess Peach and Bowser, resulting in the creation of the Chaos Heart. _A furious monster king... A fair and lovely princess... _She thought at that moment. It didn't make sense right now... Dimentio would fit the persona of a furious monster king, since he was actually Count Noir in disguise... And he was nasty enough to be considered a monster. But Eliza definitely wasn't a princess, and that was what was so confusing. She shook her head and turned to watch the television.

_"Oh no, I don't give my name to scoundrels! Just watch as Luigi pummels you!"_ Eliza rolled her eyes as she read the dialogue. She watched as Luigi jumped on the Chaos Heart, agitating it. _Luigi, the 'perfect host' for the Chaos Heart, jumped on it..._ She thought.

"That's it!" She jumped up in excitement, making Adrianna jump in surprise. "What?"

"Luigi's the perfect host for the Chaos Heart, and he's also the only person in the entire game to physically touch it!"

"Um, okay... How would that work out with Dimentio?" Adrianna paused the game.

Eliza felt her face get hot with embarassment. "I'm not completely sure, but I know the events have to be connected."

Adrianna shrugged her shoulders as she started playing the game again.

Eliza watched Nastasia and Count Bleck with the Chaos Heart on the screen, and was amazed that she had forgotten what their virtual, paper versions had looked like.

She opened up the Dark Prognosticus again, feeling more rushed to find answers. _As of now, time is not our friend, but rather, our enemy._ She remembered what Blumiere had said 3 days ago when The Void had been opened... Now she could see the truth of his words.

She flipped the pages to the last few prophecies written: _Though the man in red shall wield formidable powers, one shall stand against him. The man in green shall use the Chaos Heart's powers to bring darkness to all._

Eliza thought for a moment. _'Man in red', referring to Mario, and 'Man in green', referring to Luigi... But he never used the Chaos Heart's power willingly. That's where Dimentio comes in. Dimentio used Luigi for his own purposes, but he didn't use him this time... And the Chaos Heart has more power now than before. What if Dimentio somehow took the power that Luigi had over the Chaos Heart?_ It would explain why Dimentio didn't need Luigi this time, and combined with his own magic, the Chaos Heart would give him enough power to combine dimensions into one planet. Speaking of which, they were probably combined so that The Void could destroy everything at one time, instead of having some worlds destroyed before others. Why her own dimension was left separate was probably because it was much farther away from the other dimensions, and would be difficult to bring the two worlds together. It was still in range of The Void, though. Anyway, like Blumiere said, Dimentio would still need something else to both combine the dimensions and open The Void.

Eliza sighed. There just weren't enough answers.

"Eliza! Dinner!" Her mom called from downstairs. Eliza closed the book and hid it behind a stack of books and papers on her desk. "Coming!" She called back. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"Oh, that's cool. I'd better get back for dinner, too. Listen, I'll find someone else to help us with the plan, even if it's my brother... And I'll see you tomorrow with more notes. Okay?" She smiled as she stood and flipped her blond bangs out of her face.

"Okay, see you." Eliza smiled back and waved her goodbye.

After she left, Eliza went downstairs to join her family for dinner, just as her dad walked in the front door. His big brown eyes lit up as he saw Eliza standing there. "Lizzy-beth!" He exclaimed, and rushed over to hug his only daughter.

Now squeezed to the point where she was short of breath, Eliza tried to speak. "Hi... Daddy..." She smiled as he pulled away.

"I missed you, squirt! I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier, but I've got a couple hours I can spend here with you guys before I go back. This black hole thingy is making everyone go nuts." He walked into the kitchen as Eliza walked over and sat down at the dinner table next to her brothers, who were being very quiet. Her parents came in and sat, and after they said Grace, Eliza sat very awkwardly as they began eating.

It was fairly quiet that evening, save for Eliza's parents conversing about some of the calls her dad had been running as a result of The Void terrifying everyone, which made Eliza feel even guiltier about the entire situation. She knew it was partly her fault all this was happening, and she hoped to figure out why Dimentio chose her specifically for his purposes. But for now, she quietly ate her spaghetti while she listened to her parents converse.

Once finished, Eliza stood up and began to clean up. She noticed that her parents kept looking at each other in an odd way. "Hey, are you guys okay?" She asked as she picked up her mom's finished plate.

"Boys, go ahead and get ready for bed." Her dad said quietly. Mike and Luke simply shrugged and bounded up the stairs to their room, leaving Eliza and her parents in the dining room. Eliza continued to clean as her parents stood there next to the table. Her mom spoke hesitatingly. "Hon? We need to talk..."

Eliza looked up from the plate she was cleaning. Whenever her mom said that particular phrase, it was never anything good. She set the plate down and walked back to her seat, and the three of them sat down again.

"Hon..." Her mom began. She looked a little nervous. "Sometimes, when people have children, they-"

She was interrupted by the gentle shaking in the room, caused from the growing Void outside.

Eliza spoke up. "Mom, we are a bit short on our time, so please, just tell me what you want to tell me." She looked determined, but inwardly she was very nervous.

Her mom sighed. "You're... adopted."

Eliza almost gasped in surprise, but was able to retain her shock. She nodded slowly. "What..." She cleared her throat. "What happened?" She asked.

"Your mom and I always wanted a girl, but after a few years of trying, we were getting discouraged, having no kids at all. One night almost 16 years ago, we found you on our doorstep. No one was around, and you looked almost like you were a newborn. So we took you in, and that was that. Afterwards we were blessed with Luke and Mike, who are really ours, and even though we didn't give birth to you, you're one of our family. We love you as if you were our own, and we always have." Her dad finished with a small smile on his face.

Eliza simply sat there, stunned. She didn't know what to say, and felt like she was going to cry. "Can... May I be excused, please?" She quietly asked, trying with great difficulty to contain her emotions. Her mom nodded, looking concerned. Eliza stood and left for her room, leaving her worried adopted parents at the dinner table.

Eliza closed her door until she heard the click, then sat down next to her window and stared out at the stars and The Void. She sighed and buried her head in her hands. Why didn't they tell her before? She would be sixteen in a couple of months. The worlds were going to end in a few days, and they decided to tell her _now_ that she was adopted? As many different thoughts ran through her head, it was as if her mind split into two sides. The rational side tried to reason with her. _They still love me... All those times we had fun together, the times we laughed, cried; they still were there for me._

The other half of her thoughts fought and raged within her, making her depressed and angry. Who could she even trust anymore?

Getting ready for bed, her mind continued to rage, and that night, it swirled around as much as The Void did.

* * *

It was early, Eliza could tell. She had been tossing and turning all night with little sleep. She rolled over and looked at her digital clock, which read 6:23. Okay, early for a summer's morning. She sat in bed for a moment, then threw off her sheets and got up. Dressing, she scribbled a note for her mom, saying the she was going out for a walk, and she would be back in an hour or so. She set the note on the kitchen counter, though she really didn't think anyone would be awake this early.

Better to be safe than sorry.

She walked outside and stood on the front porch for a moment, looking up at the sky. The Void was filling up almost half the entire sky, making the world around a bit darker. The air chilled Eliza as she began to walk around her neighborhood. The weather seemed to match her mood today: Gloomy.

Still upset at her parents, (and Romando, too) Eliza thought back to Dimentio's offer. He had actually offered to keep this dimension safe if Eliza would join him. As enticing as it sounded right now, She knew that the jester was up to something. First off, he only seemed irritated with her stubbornness before. And he apparently planted the Dark Prognosticus in her cloak... All the things he was doing were nothing more than a mystery at this point, and time was quickly running out. She had to be back by tomorrow, if ever.

"Hey, Eliza!" A voice called. Eliza looked up to see Adrianna walking towards her.

"Hey... What are you doing?" Eliza asked.

"Actually, I was gonna come see you." The young girl replied. She noticed something was wrong. "Is... Is everything okay? I mean, besides The Void and all..." She asked as the two continued walking together.

Eliza sighed and stuck her hands in her pockets. "Not really... Listen, you have to promise not to tell anybody, okay?" Seeing her friend's nodding approval, she whispered, "I'm adopted."

Adrianna pulled away with widened eyes. "What?"

"You heard me. My parents told me last night." Eliza said quietly.

"So... Do you know who your real parents are, then?" Adrianna asked, still surprised.

"No. They told me that they found me on their doorstep as a newborn." Eliza responded. "Of all the times they could have told me, they decide to tell me right before the universe is destroyed..."

"You mean, right before the universe is saved from destruction."

"Well, I'm not so sure anymore."

"Well, well, well... If it isn't little Lizzy. You two come to play?" A voice taunted near the girls. Eliza realized they were walking right past the house where Seth lived, who was not much more than a rude and arrogant bully.

"Leave us alone, Seth." Adrianna told him as she furrowed her eyebrows. Before they could walk away, Seth walked over and stood in front of the two girls on the sidewalk.

"Are you telling me what to do?" He said, a sinister tone in his deep voice. Eliza looked up into his eyes, framed by his red-hot hair. "Leave... Us... Alone." She emphasized every word, being in no mood to deal with him.

"Ooh, sounding scary today, Lizzy-beth?" He reached over and grabbed Adrianna's wrist, pulling her watch off.

"Hey! Give it back, my mom gave me that watch for my birthday!" Adrianna exclaimed.

Seth grunted. "Hmph. And what are two little girls like you gonna do about it? Tell the teacher?" He laughed.

Eliza's rage burned inside her, threatening to burst. "Leave her alone!" She cried, and as she said the last word, she ran at him as a bright red ring of energy was released from her body, knocking him over.

The bully fell to the ground and dropped the precious watch, which Adrianna promptly picked up. Eliza grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her along as they ran away from the startled bully.

"What did you do! It was so cool! Where did you learn how do do that?" Adrianna asked as the two sat down on the sidewalk against a fence.

"That was the energy dash... Romando taught me a few days ago." Eliza tried to catch her breath as the adrenaline slowed in her body.

"You mean your prince charming?" Adrianna batted her eyelashes and Eliza laughed weakly. "If he's not still mad at me, and if I can get back..."

The ground beneath the two girls sitting there shook, and The Void above grew larger.

"Oh, what time is it?" Eliza asked, remembering her note.

"It's 7:20. Why?"

"I left a note for my parents, actually my mom since my dad went back to work, in case she noticed I was gone."

"You'd better hurry, 'cause after that tremor, I'm sure she's awake."

Eliza stood up and looked around, and spotting a large pine tree, hid behind it. Adrianna laughed. "Really?"

"Just watch." Eliza said. She wasn't in view of any other people or their houses beside Adrianna, so she flipped back to her house, leaving her friend speechless.

Eliza flipped back into her kitchen just before her mom came running down the stairs. She came into the kitchen wearing her robe and looking like she just woke up. "Eliza! Where did you go!" She cried with a tone of panic in her voice.

"I... I just went for a walk. I left a note." Eliza pointed to the note she had left on the counter.

"I still don't want you running around with this black hole hanging in the sky." Her mom said with a worried look.

Eliza started to feel enraged, but tried to keep it bottled up inside herself. "I've been 'running around' since it was first opened, and I'm going to go stop it from destroying everything, because I'm the only person on this entire planet who even has a clue what's going on!" She turned towards the stairs. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." She went upstairs to her room, leaving her mom standing in the kitchen, speechless.

The young girl paced in her room, back and forth. She paused for a second and glanced at the Dark Prognosticus, still hidden on her desk. "Humph. It's not like you could help me..." She shook her head and sighed. She picked it up and sat down in front of her window, facing The Void, which was framed by threatening storm clouds. She re-read the portion she had read in the Overthere.

_My younger son, then, must rule the people... _Eliza turned the last paragraph over in her mind.

_Merloo had a brother, who was the leader of the people of Darkness, which had to have become the Tribe of Darkness... _Eliza continued to ponder. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice when it began raining outside.

_The leader of the Tribe of Darkness, or the king... Wait!_ Eliza almost surprised herself. _Romando's father, Count Noir, was their leader! So, Dimentio's father wrote the Dark Prognosticus, and then Merloo was Dimentio's brother!_

Finally she was getting answers. She stood and ran her fingers through her soft hair, a habit she had when she was thinking intensely. _The tribe was begun right after the Pixl Uprising, which I think happened about 3000 years ago... Wow. Some people can live for a really long time..._ She figured it had something to do with the magic in their blood.

The tribe was destroyed by Count Bleck though, about 1500 years ago, and that's about when the need for the Purity Heart and the Light Prognosticus came... The events were most likely related.

Eliza paused from her thinking and gazed out the window at the sheets of rain falling. The clouds were incredibly dark, so much so that Eliza had to turn on a light in the middle of the day. A flash of lightening lit up the dark sky, and thunder followed shortly after. Daisy squealed in her cage, so Eliza opened it and comforted the hamster in her hands, then softly put her back in and closed the door. The food tray was nearly overflowing- A sure sign that one of her brothers had been taking care of the small creature in the week she had been gone. She sighed heavily and stared out the window again. So much had happened, the last few days felt more like a few weeks. And every day she was here, it was one less day she could be with her friends, with Romando... And one day closer to the destruction of the universe. This was the real deal, it wasn't just some video game anymore. Dimentio was going to destroy everything... And of all people, Eliza was the one in the middle of everything.

Flipping open the Dark Prognosticus, Eliza began to read some of the actual prophecies. "_The true wielder shall use unfathomable power to erase the prophecy's tomb, beginning the path to destruction._"

That was the first true prophecy written in the book. Still cryptic.

She shook her head and turned to the last few pages. Blank. Turning back, there were a few pages that were blank... Wait, what was that?

On the last page of writing, there was a single sentence in the middle of an otherwise blank page. Eliza read it as her temper rose.

"Only the blood of an innocent traitor shall prevail."

"What does it mean!" Using all her strength, Eliza threw the book against the wall, but instead of hitting the wall, the book stopped in midair and floated upright.

"Humph." Eliza turned her back.

The lightening outside once again lit up the room, followed by roaring thunder as rain pelted the window. "Merlon didn't know, I don't know, no one knows what that means!" Just like the 'man in green', this 'innocent traitor' was found in both prophetic books, and would most likely determine the outcome of the universe.

It didn't help though, if they didn't know who this person even was. Eliza grabbed the floating book and hid it once again in her desk.

She left the room and went downstairs to see her mom, looking like she was about ready to walk out the door, jacket on and purse in hand. Seeing Eliza standing there at the bottom of the steps, she began. "I'm going out to run a few errands, I need you to stay in here with the boys. Just stay in the living room and be around them, they're watching TV right now. I probably won't be home until after dinner, there's some sandwich stuff for lunch and leftovers for dinner." She paused and brushed her short blonde hair into her hood.

"So you're going out shopping when the world's gonna get destroyed in two days?" Eliza asked quietly in a slightly defiant attitude. Her mom sighed and smiled softly. There was some definite tension between the two. "Going to go help your dad out at the fire station."

Eliza nodded and looked down.

"I'll see you tonight." She waved goodbye as she walked outside and into the raging storm. Once the door clicked shut, Eliza sighed and trudged into the living room.

The television was showing a recent news report, and her brothers were both sitting on the ground, arguing about their gameboys. Eliza slid sideways into the recliner and picked up the remote. There was no way she was going to watch a bunch of news reporters talk about how scared everyone was about the 'black hole'. Flipping through the channels, all she could find were a bunch of news reports, one even from another country. _News... News... News... Oh look, a picture of The Void! News, News..._ Finally, something other than reports came on, thought it was a documentary on animals. Eliza set down the remote as Luke groaned and turned his back to the television. Eliza rolled her eyes and settled. It was a lot better than being guilted over everything, no matter how boring it might seem.

_Albinism is known to affect all vertebrates, including this Red-necked Wallaby. This creature's fur is a definite pale, nearly white color instead of its usual brown-red colorings. One cause of this could be the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, though there are other causes. They can include the biological inheritance of genetically recessive alleles passed from both parents, or in some cases, genetic mutation is involved. Either way, the body's production of melanin is changed._

The deep, english voice of the show's narrator dragged on as videos of white animals were shown. Eliza groaned and tried to busy herself with a magazine while her brothers' games played on, and lightening flashed outside.

Throughout the rest of the day, Eliza remained sitting in the living room, having little to do while becoming incredibly restless; the one thing that she could be doing was reading a certain dark tome, but she didn't dare bring it down in front of her brothers. She almost hated to admit to herself that she felt more ill at ease around her friends and family here, rather than in the middle of all the action back in Flipside. She did love her family and friends here, but there wasn't really anything she could do right now.

Finally, after a long day of doing almost nothing, it was time for bed. Quietly the boys picked up their video games and trudged upstairs to their room. "I still think my Palkia could have destroyed your Tyranitar..." One of them grumbled about their Pokemon games.

Absentmindedly picking up a cordless phone, Eliza also walked upstairs to her room and shut the door. Noticing the little voicemail icon was blinking, Eliza began to play the message on speaker while she got ready for bed.

"Hey Eliza, it's Adrianna. Listen. I called around and asked all of our friends to help us, but somehow they heard about what happened with Seth this morning, and well... I guess they got the wrong idea, and now no one will help. Don't worry about it though, I got my brother and cousin to help, we're all doing our best to write down everything we can and trying to figure out a way for you to get back. I'll call again tomorrow morning. Good night!" _Beep._

Eliza sat on her bed, stunned. Her own friends would turn their backs on her? And now of all times, too. Eliza put her head in her hands, her long hair falling over her shoulders. It was almost too late. Her friends didn't trust her, her family... wasn't really her family, and the one person she really wanted to be with was probably still mad at her because of that book. She cried and pulled herself under the covers of her bed. With shallow breathing and a desperate spirit, she cried herself to sleep, not noticing that her mom had returned and the storm cleared.

* * *

The woman was running... It was the same one Eliza had seen, numerous times. The woman pulled her dark hood further up over her head and continued to run, taking great care to keep the small bundle she was carrying balanced in her arms. Eliza could clearly tell that she was frightened of something, no, terrified; she was trying to run away from whatever it was. It was very dark out, clearly late at night. It helped the blue-skinned woman hide against the dark blanket of the sky.

Quickly she weakened and slowed. There were others now across the field, shouting and running towards the woman. The woman leaned over the bundle she was carrying and whispered. "I love you... I always will." Her expression changed from fright to one of love and determination. She waved her hand over the bundle and very quietly mumbled something.

The others who were yelling were shouting even louder and ran faster as they realized what she was trying to do. Before they could get to her, there was a huge flash of white, blinding light, and when it cleared, the woman fell to the ground. Her bundle was gone... Was that what the other people wanted? The other people clustered around the woman, probably trying to figure out what had just happened. Eliza's vision began to blur, but she knew the woman was gone...

Eliza woke up suddenly and gasped. That dream, again! This time, she could actually see everything that was going on, it was like she was actually there...

She stood and grabbed the Dark Prognosticus from its hiding spot and flipped to the first entry yet again.

_Those who are born with magic in their blood... Can occasionally have visions... Future or the past... In the form of hallucinations... And dreams!_ Eliza almost jumped as she realized what was happening. Could her dream have really been a vision, all the times she's had it before? It was most likely of the past, considering that the people were blue-skinned.

The few rays of sunlight spread throughout the room, and she quickly dug through her closet and found her turquoise dress, fresh and clean, and dressed.

Come to think of it, Blumiere didn't tell her what happened to Foi and Pierre, did he? If Foi was the woman, the bundle was probably her child. What if there really was a connection between them and the vision?

Before she could think further, the phone rang on her desk. She picked it up. Adrianna. "Hello?"

"Hey! I've got an entire notebook full of lines, notes and stuff."

"Okay, great! But first, I have to tell you something." Eliza told her about the vision, and her suspicions.

"Wow... Well, what happened to the baby?"

"I... I don't know. The woman used some sort of magic on it, which people from both the tribes could use."

"Like you?"

Eliza stood there with the phone to her ear, stunned. It couldn't be possible, could it? She shook her head and changed the subject. "Yeah... Anyway, why do you think Dimentio would send me back here, with this book?" There was silence for a moment. "Well, if I was him, I'd want you to feel separated and alone. With the book, people would be more afraid of you since you actually had it, and they are. Strength in numbers, right?"

Eliza thought about it. Made sense. If she couldn't find anyone who would support her, she wouldn't want to go back and fight, and she would also be more likely to go along with Dimentio's offer. It had almost worked, too. But she was going to make today a great day, and she was going to go back to Flipside.

"Okay, any way to get back?" Eliza asked, now re-energized.

"Not positive yet, but we're working on a hunch. Listen, I have to go, but I'll bring you the notepad after lunch later. Bye!"

"Bye." _Click_.

The ground shook as The Void once again grew. Eliza looked outside, and nearly the entire sky was engulfed by The Void. A sick feeling settled in her stomach as she sat down the book and went downstairs to the kitchen. She looked around the kitchen and grabbed a box of cereal. Since the bag was still closed, she got a knife from the drawer and tried to open it, but the knife slipped and scraped her finger. "Ow..." She set the cereal box and the knife down and examined her finger. A small, black drop of blood fell from the cut. She knew what that meant, but instead of freaking out over it, continued to prepare her breakfast, deciding to worry about the cut later.

Her mom walked in, wearing her bathrobe and looking exhausted, and seeing Eliza rummaging through the fridge, spoke up. "Eliza..." Eliza looked up and closed the fridge door. "I know you're still upset, but if you want, your dad and I could help you find your real parents... If this Void ever clears up, of course."

The two stood there, both feeling very awkward for a moment. Suddenly, Eliza smiled and hugged her mom. "Thanks, but you'll always be my mom." She pulled away. "And I'm sorry I was so rude yesterday... I didn't mean the way I acted. And about The Void... I'm going to stop it. I know what's been going on, and I have to leave today."

Before her mom could protest, Eliza continued in a quiet, adult voice. "And if all goes well, The Void will close and I'll be back very soon after. But I have to stop it before it's too late."

Her mom stood there and a small smile appeared on her face as she sighed. "Okay." She said simply. Eliza smiled back and took her breakfast up to her room so she could study some more.

Throughout the rest of the morning, Eliza studied the Dark Prognosticus, and she studied hard. At one point, she flipped on the Wii and re-played the final battle in Super Paper Mario, writing down her findings. Occasionally the earth shook as she studied, signifying the growths of The Void in the sky. For several hours she sat at her desk, undisturbed. She glanced at the clock, and since it was after noon, grabbed the tome, grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen, and went outside to wait for her friend.

The sky was dark of course, and a chilly, ominous wind blew through the trees. Eliza sat down on the soft grass and opened up the book once again, reading the intriguing sentence in the back of the book. _What does it mean?_

"Eliza?"

Eliza looked up, and immediately blushed. Standing in front of her was her next-door neighbor, David, who she had a crush on since he moved here in 6th grade.

"I... I heard you were back, so I wanted to see you... I just got back from my grandparent's house yesterday. Is there anything I could help you with?" He asked, his brown eyes full of curiosity.

Eliza thought for a moment, then nodded as she stood. "Yeah... I've got this phrase I can't figure out. 'Only the blood of an innocent traitor shall prevail'."

David thought to himself for a moment. "Hmm... Let's see... Blood, meaning the red stuff in your body, or even bloodshed, or maybe just a person, or their lineage."

"Okay..." Eliza was deep in thought.

"Prevail means to be victorious over an opposing force. Not much to interpret there. Innocent, meaning 'simple and naive', 'harmless', or most likely, 'not guilty', but then a traitor is someone who is guilty of betraying their country or friend. I see what you're confused about, how can you be innocent and guilty? Then again, what about a baby? It would fit the description of innocent."

"Perhaps." _Magical blood, maybe?_ Eliza would have to ask Blumiere about an idea that was forming in her mind.

She looked up to see Adrianna running towards her, carrying a notebook and looking very excited. "Did you find something?"

"I sure did! I know you can't flip all the way back to that world, but Flipside isn't even its own dimension; it's in between dimensions, so you should be able to get there just fine!"

Eliza's face lit up. "That's it! Thank you so much! And thank you David, really. I couldn't have figured this out without you." David blushed and smiled. "You're welcome. Anytime."

Quickly flipping through the notebook that Adrianna handed to her, Eliza could easily tell that Adrianna, her brother and cousin had been working hard to take down every note they could find. After a few minutes of reading and some serious thought, Eliza came up with several conclusions and answers while David and Adrianna stood there on the lawn, watching her.

Eliza finally looked up again and handed the notebook back to Adrianna. "Thank you so much... It really helped. I'll be right back." She ran inside, grabbed her black cloak, and called out for her mom. Seeing that her mom and brothers were already outside with her dad, she walked out the door again.

"Mom? I have to go now..." Eliza said to her, hesitatingly. Her mom turned. With tears forming in her eyes, she slowly nodded, then quickly leaned forward and hugged her daughter. Eliza and her mom hugged as if they would never see each other again, which they both knew was a definite possibility. Slowly Eliza pulled away and gave her mom a reassuring smile. Silently she hugged her dad, and gave a smile to her entire family and her friends. "I promise I'll return, once The Void and the Chaos Heart have been vanquished, and Dimentio's evil deeds eliminated once and for all!"

She turned, and holding the Dark Prognosticus, flipped out of her world and back to Flipside, leaving her cheering friends and family both anxious and hopeful of a promising future.

* * *

Blumiere paced about in Merlon's home. It had been days since the group returned to Flipside from the Overthere, thankfully with the generously given Pure Heart in hand, but also with no sign of Eliza. Then suddenly, someone flipped into the small room, startling Blumiere, but when he recognized who it was, he gasped. "Elizabeth?" He questioned. Eliza turned to face him, but began to trip over a pile of books. "Aah-" Blumiere caught her, and pulled her up.

"Are you alright?"

Eliza nodded and stepped to a clear part of the floor.

"Eliza?" Timpani called as she and Merlon ran excitedly into the room. Eliza felt so relieved to be around her friends again.

"Um, where's Romando?" She asked.

"He's outside at the moment, I'm sure he'll be back soon. But until then, perhaps you could tell us what happened?" Blumiere questioned her. Eliza first handed him the Dark Prognosticus.

"Here. I should have told you about it as soon as I found it, and I apologize. I think Dimentio may have planted it in my cloak when he sent us to the Underwhere as a means of getting me to choose to go with him later on."

Blumiere simply nodded as he stood there, fingering the dark book.

Eliza continued. "Dimentio sent me back to my world, to my parents... And The Void has spread there, too. I couldn't figure out a way to get back here until just a few minutes ago. Until then, I was studying and trying to figure out some 'puzzles'. For example, you remember Merloo? He was from the Tribe of Darkness, but he stayed with the Ancients when everyone else left, right after the Pixl Uprising. He helped Merlumina write the Light Prognosticus."

Timpani and Merlon were standing quietly at the edge of the room, and Blumiere was standing in front of Eliza, listening intently.

"As for the Dark Prognosticus, Merloo's father wrote it, about 4000 years ago. He wanted to write down his visions of the future in a way that a better prophecy could counteract it. The interesting part is that this person had another son, he was the 'survivor' of the Pixl Uprising. The visions he saw were of his mother being killed by humans, which was untrue, but I doubt that he knew that. That might be the reason why he hated humans, and being completely separated from them all of the time, along with an arranged marriage, those things would only grow his hatred... He went on to become the leader of the Tribe of Darkness." Eliza paused and watched Blumiere's expression changed to one of shock. He composed himself though, and replied, "I suppose that would make sense." He sighed.

"What about the Chaos Heart?" He asked.

"Ever wonder why Luigi had a strange connection to it? He was the only person to ever physically touch it. My guess is that when he jumped on it at the wedding and agitated it, a portion of its power was trapped inside Luigi somehow. Later, Dimentio combined Luigi and the Chaos Heart and separated out that power and put it back in the Heart."

Blumiere nodded again. "Makes perfect sense... But even with its full power, it would need an extra push to open The Void after combining dimensions."

"Yes... And I think that's where this 'innocent traitor' comes in. This person's found in both books." Eliza stopped and caught her breath, and readied herself to ask Blumiere the question that's been on her mind nearly all day.

"Um... Blumiere... Could you tell me more about Foi and Pierre, please?"

Blumiere looked up at her, his eyebrows raised. Instead of questioning why, he simply told Eliza to sit down. "I believe that we have been thinking along the same lines."

As she sat down on the couch, Eliza felt nervous.

Blumiere took a deep breath and began. "I already said that Foi and Pierre Fonce were going to have a baby, and that baby was betrothed to Romando before she was even born." He paused for a moment and hesitated before continuing. "It was expected to be a joyous occasion, the birth of their first child... But I shall never forget that fateful night.

"I was a young boy, around 11 years of age. Romando was only 2. It was very late on the night their child was expected. The two were alone in their home, no doctors were called there. After a few hours with no word, a doctor went to their home to check on them. I remember watching from my bedroom window as he quickly ran back to the castle, and there were shouts between him, my father, and some of the royal guards. I watched through the window as the soldiers ran to Pierre's home... I was afraid something went wrong, if Foi was alright... I never found out exactly what had happened, but the next morning, Pierre was dead, within his own house... and Foi was found on the outskirts of our dimension, also dead... and their baby had disappeared. After that night my father wouldn't speak of them, and he turned bitter, though more noticeably toward Romando. I never knew why for sure, but I think his twisted mind connected his best friend's death with Romando's betrothal to the child. Anyway, no one ever found out about the baby..." He looked at Eliza as if she were going to respond, which she did. "Until now. We both knew I was different as a human... And my parents even told me I was adopted."

The others could see that Eliza was shaken. Quietly, she related her vision to them, then was still as she finished speaking. At first, no one spoke. Then Blumiere began quietly. "The flash of light you saw was a very powerful spell that Foi used, but it was too powerful for her to handle at the time, having just given birth. And you..." Blumiere stood and faced the window, deep in thought. "It all makes sense. Foi and Pierre would have been marked as traitors since the king hated humans so much, as well as you, their child... But it was under no will of your own that you were born like..."

"Like an albino?"

"I suppose. Your mother and father gave their lives for you, which they didn't have to do. Being as close as they were to the king, they would have had an opportunity to give you up to the guards... But if Foi hadn't saved you, you would have been banished, or worse."

Eliza simply sat there and nodded. Her face showed little emotion, but there was pain in her eyes.

"I'm sure that Dimentio knew about you the entire time, which is why he knew to use you."

"So... What now?" Eliza asked.

"Once Mario returns with the final Pure Heart, we will face Dimentio and stop him and the Chaos Heart."

Eliza nodded again quietly.

Just then, the front door opened as Romando stepped in. "Eliza?" He asked.

Eliza quickly stood up and rushed over to meet him. "Romando... I'm... I'm so sorry... I know I should have told you about-" She was cut off by his sudden embrace.

"It's fine, and it doesn't even matter anymore. I'm just so glad you're safe. I was really worried about you." He pulled away and wiped his eyes. Eliza smiled up at his kind, blue face as she wiped away the tears forming in her eyes. Romando raised his head and glanced at Blumiere as he smiled. Blumiere smiled back as he nodded quietly to him.

Turning his attention once more towards Eliza, Romando began, "Come with me." He opened the door again and beckoned her to follow. Eliza smiled and followed him outside.

* * *

The two walked through town, both elated and at ease once more with each other. They paused to wave at Nastasia and O'Chunks, calmly walking through town together. "They make a really nice couple... Even though they're so different." Eliza smiled, and Romando responded, "I'm very glad to hear you say that." They walked down to the outskirts of Flipside, and they stopped and sat down on a large boulder, shaded by a large oak tree.

Romando took her hand in his and started quietly. "Eliza, when you disappeared, I was so worried about you... I wanted you to be safe. Over the last several days I've realized something. I care about you, Eliza... And I love you."

Eliza's heart was fluttering, but she was so elated and she smiled happily. Romando smiled back, and he slid down off the boulder, and knelt in front of Eliza.

"I know it's a little early, but once you turn 16..." He pulled a small box out and opened it, revealing a gleaming silver diamond ring, sparkling in the light.

"Will you marry me?"

There was a small moment of silence that followed Romando's proposal, though it felt like an absolute eternity. Eliza furrowed her brow as she though about it, and sweat fell from Romando's face.

"Yes." Eliza smiled and slid down into Romando's arms and the two embraced as if they would never let go. Once they finally did, Romando gently slid the ring onto Eliza's finger, and they tenderly kissed.

Blumiere and Timpani, who were watching at a distance from the top of Flipside tower, both squeezed each other's hand as Blumiere breathed a sigh of relief and Timpani squealed.

* * *

_Pierre... I love you, Pierre..._

"Hey! Stop right there!"

_What? No! I'm almost there... I can't run anymore..._

"Stop right there and hand the human over!"

_There's no choice..._ "I love you... I always will."

"NO! Someone, stop her!"

"Aah, I can't see!"

"Ugh..."

...

"No! The human is gone!"

"The woman is..."

"She doesn't matter anymore. This is the price she paid for disloyalty to the king, and the price anyone would pay for associating with filthy humans."


	8. Chapter 8

-Chapter 8-

It was very dark. If the sun was shining, no one would have been able to tell because The Void was filling up the entire sky. Everywhere, people hid in fear from it, though there was really no place to hide. Today, either Mario and Co. would defeat Dimentio and destroy the Chaos Heart, or The Void would destroy the universe.

Eliza brushed the hair out of her face as she stood outside, and really hoped the former would be true.

Today was the day. It was truly a matter of life and death.

She sighed and gazed at the ring on her finger, the ring Romando gave her last night. After a few moments though, the smile fell from her face.

"Good morning, Eliza... Mind if I join you?"

Eliza looked up to see Timpani standing in front of her. "Of course not, please do."

Timpani smiled. "You're not having second thoughts already, are you?" She asked kindly.

"No, no... I'm really excited, but I kind of have mixed emotions. Someday Romando and I will be married... But then again, we might not." Eliza gazed up nervously at the sky.

Timpani was silent for a moment, then reassuringly placed her hand on Eliza's shoulder. "Everything will turn out the way it's supposed to. You'll see."

"Thanks." Eliza sighed and shifted nervously.

"Is there anything else?" Timpani asked knowingly.

Eliza stared off into the distance, before quietly replying. "My parents... Are- Were dead, before I even knew they existed... A long time before I knew they existed." She rubbed her bare arms. "I'm still not sure how it's possible... 1500 years is a long time."

Timpani chuckled softly. "Now, it's 1500 years only for the descendants of the Tribe of Ancients... You are really only 15. Flipside isn't in its own dimension, so time is a different matter here... At least, until The Void was first opened. And that wasn't really too long ago, maybe a month. Also, the Tribe of Darkness often remembered time in how it was relevant to the Ancients, so if they thought of 1500 years, it was really 15 years. Or even less, to the Ancients the dimension of the Tribe of Darkness was destroyed about 1500 years ago as well. It actually happened only a few months ago."

Eliza smiled. She felt much more relieved talking out her thoughts, knowing that there were others who would help her with her burdens. "Thanks." She said simply.

Timpani smile warmly back at her. "You're welcome."

"Ah, good morning, ladies." Timpani and Eliza saw Blumiere walking towards them.

"Good morning, darling." Timpani greeted her husband.

Blumiere smiled warmly and softly kissed his wife on the cheek; clearly he was making the most out of every moment he had.

"Elizabeth, I've already told Romando about what we discussed last night, so you don't have to talk about it any more if you don't want to." He paused for a moment while Eliza nodded her thanks.

"Anyway, Mario returned very late last night with the final Pure Heart. We need to all meet together at Merlon's again, then we'll be on our way."

Eliza nodded again. She was being very quiet, but Blumiere and Timpani both knew exactly why. It came as a bit of a shock when she found out not only she was not a human, but her true parents died when she was a baby.

Besides her quiet mood today, she was faring quite well, even in spite of The Void.

Before the three reached Merlon's home, Blumiere paused for a moment. "Oh, and only the four of us know about last night's 'excitement'". He said and gestured to the ring on Eliza's hand.

Eliza smiled. "Right."

Blumiere smiled back and opened the door for the ladies before following them inside. Merlon was standing and holding the Light Prognosticus in his hands, Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi were standing around him. Romando was waiting near the door for Eliza, and when she walked in, he greeted her warmly with a firm, reassuring hand around her shoulder.

Blumiere walked in behind Timpani, and Merlon addressed the entire group yet again.

"Now, we are finally all accounted for." Mario raised his head in surprise as he noticed Eliza standing there.

Princess Peach spoke up. "Oh Eliza, you're back safely! We were all so worried."

Bowser mumbled something about being mushy, but everyone ignored him.

"Thanks. I'm definitely okay now." Eliza beamed at Romando, who had her in a comforting side hug. He grinned back and cleared his throat.

"And... We both have an announcement to make... We are engaged to be married."

As he said these words, the room broke out in applause and congratulations from everyone, and Eliza blushed shyly.

"Great job!" Luigi cried.

"Oh yeah!" Mario called out as he nodded to them.

"Best of luck to both of you!" The Princess wished them with her soft voice.

"Yes... Even in the foreshadow of destruction, love will always shine it's light forth." Merlon said sincerely. He waited a moment while the cheers and applause died down, then began once again.

"I suggest that everyone make their needed rounds, then we shall meet one last time, at the top of Flopside Tower."

Everyone nodded and began to file out of the wizard's home.

Eliza thought of how much the Mario group had done, going out and risking themselves to find the Pure Hearts, which would dispatch the Chaos Heart's evil and bring both peace, and hope back to the worlds. At least, that was one of her strongest wishes.

* * *

The wind blew ominously, as if foreshadowing the end. Eliza was on her way to Flopside tower, but first had paused in the Hall of Mirrors, the only link between the two towns. As she gazed up at the beautiful stained-glass windows, her heart saddened. The room was not lit or danced with color as it did a few days ago, but instead was not much more than a dark, gloomy, desolate room. If this was what the world looked like before The Void destroyed it, she didn't want to see what it would look like afterwards.

For a moment her eyes lingered on the window depicting Merloo. He left everyone he loved- his family and friends- to stay with the Ancients, and helped write the book that helped save the world. For a minute Eliza wondered if she was doing the right thing when she left her friends and family, but she finally decided that it would only be right if the worlds lived on after today.

She sighed heavily, then stepped through the 'mirror', which was the door to the Flopside part of the Hall of Mirrors. This side was even darker and more miserable, so the young girl shuddered and quickly moved on.

Finally Eliza made it to the top of Flopside Tower, where a crowd had gathered around the large, violet door. Besides the group headed to Castle Bleck, Nastasia, O'Chunks, Mimi, and Merlon had showed up, along with a few brave Flipside and Flopside residents.

On the inside, everyone was anxious to a certain degree, but they all did their best not to show it. Even Luigi, the most timid of the group, was doing a good job at staying brave.

Merlon was the first to speak, his deep, elderly voice resounding strongly through the crowd.

"On one of the final pages of the Light Prognosticus there is a prophecy, one which I have told many of you before, and I shall say again, for I believe it to be relevant once more. 'Only those who have not abandoned hope can turn back the prophecy of doom. They walk forward into the future, no matter how dark and uncertain it may be.' From the very beginning, from the first day The Void appeared, you fought to this day because you believed in a bright and hopeful future. I believe it in the depths of my heart that love will prevail over darkness. I know that you can do this."

The group of eight that was prepared to leave stood there on that tower, confidence boosted and optimism burning from them all.

"Don't be gone too long, County!" Mimi cried out.

"Aye, yeh can do it, me Count!" O'Chunks called as he had Nastasia wrapped around his arm, who also spoke up. "Um... Be careful..." She blushed as she spoke.

The other residents began shouting their encouragements and cheers as well, before the ground shook and The Void in the sky grew even larger.

"Hurry... For the worlds do not have much time." Merlon said.

Mario nodded and began to lead the way through the doors.

"And Timpani..." Timpani turned to the wizard. "Do come back safely this time." Merlon smiled softly, and Timpani returned it. "I will. We all will."

The group walked through the doors, to where the fate of all worlds would be determined once more. A young Flipside girl with blonde hair squealed, startling the other residents. "Yay! Luigi's gonna save us, I know he will!"

* * *

The eight heroes stepped from the door onto a long, black, stone walkway leading up to the tall dark castle, known as Castle Bleck. Surrounding the castle in the distance were other lands. Far off in the distance Lineland could be seen, and the beginnings of a dense forest could be seen off to the side. The Void loomed menacingly above, almost as if it was centered directly above the castle.

Luigi shuddered. "Huh... This place still gives me the creeps."

"It does to all of us..." Timpani answered him softly.

Blumiere stood solemnly, facing the dark castle. With a furrowed brow he sighed heavily. For once, in this place he had almost called home, he wanted to be able to see it be used for a purpose other than as a base, as a headquarters for the wielder of the Dark Prognosticus.

"Darling?" Timpani came up beside her husband.

Blumiere snapped out of his trance.

"We need to move on..."

Blumiere nodded. "Everyone, stay close together, and stay quiet. Now follow me."

The group began walking down the path, lit by lampposts glowing with eerie black fires, and walked through the enormous double doors into the castle. Throughout the halls, it was the same black stone, with white outlines. Almost everywhere, the black fire shone on the tops of the lampposts. As silently as possible, the group walked through the halls. Strangely enough, however, no koopas, magiblots, or minions of any kind were to be found anywhere. Nothing looked out of place or any different from the Mario group's first visit a few weeks ago. It was almost as if the castle was abandoned completely, but they were too far from the end of the road to jump to conclusions. Quietly they all walked, no one saying a word.

The way was long and dark, and thankfully, uneventful. For nearly an hour the group trudged on, following Blumiere, avoiding traps and dead-ends. They had a bit of difficulty navigating their way through maze-like rooms, but once they were finally through, they all knew exactly where they were.

Blumiere stepped through the large doorway and the rest of the group filed in behind him. At the end of the room was a tall door, which would lead them to the final battle. Shudders and trembles rippled through the party as bad memories and experiences were recalled. For some, it simply brought memories of a difficult battle for the fate of the worlds. For others, near-death experiences were painfully shot back into perspectives. A few silent moments passed, then Blumiere spoke yet again. "Past these doors lie the end... Dimentio and the Chaos Heart. We must remember to expect the unexpected, so to speak. When you are ready, Mario... We shall move on."

Mario nodded, and he, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi huddled together and went through their bag, sorting through different items, sparse though they were.

Eliza was fairly nervous, and Romando noticed. He walked over to her and squeezed her hand. "Are you alright?"

Taking a deep breath, Eliza responded. "I... I don't know. The Chaos Heart is a terrifying object. And I helped create it."

Romando faced her and gazed into her deep blue eyes, which were beginning to form small tears of fright and remorse.

"Now, it wasn't your fault. And besides, I promised we would set things right."

Eliza nodded slightly and sniffed.

Romando caressed her neck. "Don't worry. There's eight of us against one Dimentio. You'll never be alone." He paused a moment and lifted Eliza's left hand, her ring now in their sight, then added, "Ever."

Eliza smiled as she gazed into his deep orange eyes, her heart feeling lightened again. Romando smiled back and tenderly kissed her forehead. "Much better."

Mario walked up to the door, next to which Blumiere and Timpani were standing, quietly discussing something. Mario spoke up, and Blumiere turned toward the plumber. "Ah- yes. Are we ready to proceed?" He asked, and Mario nodded.

"Very well then. Be alert."

Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, and Luigi walked through the doors, but Blumiere stopped Eliza and Romando. "Hey... What is it?" Eliza questioned.

"The two of you, stay out here." He said in a stern voice.

At this point, both teenagers knew better than to argue with him, though Romando still asked why they should stay.

Blumiere adjusted his monocle. "I already lost you once, Romando. That is an experience I do not wish to repeat. And," He turned to Eliza. "Your parents died to save your life. When the time is right, you will know what to do. Stay hidden, and stay safe." With a final, caring look, Blumiere turned and walked through the doors to join Mario, accompanied by his wife. When the doors closed, Eliza went up to them and peered through the crack.

"What are you doing? Blumiere said to stay-"

"Shh! I'm watching them. He didn't say we couldn't do that, did he?" Eliza whispered.

With a sly grin, Romando peered through also and watched the scene that was about to unfold.

* * *

Mario and Co. stepped into the large, black room, which had white, grid-like platforms all throughout the room. These platforms, though, had strange white faces on the sides, which resembled the mask of comedy.

"Aha ha... So you've come at last? I have been restless..." A voice spoke from the far end of the Inner Sanctum.

The heroes spotted Dimentio, standing on a white platform, completely at ease in spite of the current situation.

"...Like an impatient boulder, waiting to crush some unlucky passers-by." A mischievous tone from his voice resounded throughout the room.

"You don't have to do this, Dimentio. You could stop the Chaos Heart, before it's too late." Timpani pleaded softly.

Dimentio laughed maniacally at what she said, before responding. "After all I've worked for to achieve this? After my own son attempted murder, refusing to part with a weak, ignorant human, I disguised myself and joined his group of naive misfits, while plotting a means of revenge. I knew all along he was lying about his 'new, perfect world' he was talking about creating.

When the time came for the Chaos Heart's true potential to be unveiled, I combined the Chaos Heart, the Man in Green, and myself to retrieve the evil power that was trapped within the green, mustachioed plumber, and restore it into the Heart. After the Purity Heart nearly ruined everything I had worked for, I knew there had to be another time to strike. I released both Luigi and the Chaos Heart, and, still concealed by the head of the Green Thunder, put on a magnificent performance and supposedly destroyed myself, while in reality I merely fled. Prior to that I purposefully created hordes of clones to act as a shadow of my own power, so that no matter what happened I could continue with my plans of creating a new world in my own likeness.

I did not account for my wretched son and a filthy human to intercede as they did, but I quickly formed a back up plan. And I see that it has worked quite marvelously."

"That's... That's horrible!" Princess Peach cried.

"Don't you EVER call my wife filthy!" Blumiere's rage boiled toward the vile jester.

"ENOUGH! First your games shall end, then this weak and cursed world will soon after!" Dimentio began by hovering in midair, then created a starburst and hurled it at the group, scattering them. The white platforms began to move around in the air, from side to side, while Dimentio floated from one surface to the next, hurling starbursts at whoever was closest to him.

Mario turned and jumped on the jester's head while his back was turned, but the plumber harmlessly fell to the ground, having done no damage.

Dimentio paused, then moved to a higher platform.

"Aha ha ha... Your attacks are no more harmful than that of a toothless crocodile." He shook his head. "Have you no more power in you?" He created another starburst and hurled it at the heroes, narrowly missing Luigi.

"Wah!" The Man in Green cried as he flung himself out of the way.

"Our attacks... Won't do anything. He's shielded by the Chaos Heart." Timpani said.

"Mario, the Pure Hearts!" Blumiere told Mario, realizing what they had brought with them.

Mario nodded, and the Pure Hearts rose and surrounded Dimentio, destroying his barrier with a bright and intense show of colors.

"Aah! My... My barrier!" Dimentio flailed for a brief moment, then quickly composed himself. "Hmph. No matter. I will still continue to play~" He finished, and immediately formed another starburst, but instead of a single burst, it split off into three separate starbursts, and he flung them all at the group.

Mario ran around and jumped onto the jester once more, this time he took some damage.

"Aha ha ha. You are certainly fast on your feet." Dimentio teleported up to the top of the room. "But let's have a little fun, shall we?"

Immediately, many, many clones of himself appeared, and they floated around from platform to platform, and from one edge of the room to the other, pushing Blumiere, Timpani, and the Heroes of Prophecy around.

"Ah- Mario!" Princess Peach cried as the clones pushed her around. Mario leaped up and jumped on some of their heads, causing them to disappear. Bowser, Luigi, Blumiere and Timpani saw what Mario was doing, and promptly proceeded to do the same.

Bowser breathed fire, making several clones on the floor disappear at once. Luigi used his Super Jump and knocked out some of the clones that were floating much higher up. Blumiere used his energy dash ability, and after knocking out a couple of clones, his wife covered for him and hit any clones that came nearby while he regained his strength.

After several minutes of nothing but attacking clones, whether by fire, magic, or physical strength, only a sparse few clones remained.

"The fun is far from over, I assure you!" The real Dimentio taunted. Just then, all of the remaining clones created starbursts and hurled them around.

Princess Peach and Timpani both screamed as they jumped out of the way of the deadly missiles, narrowly avoiding them. Luigi rushed to help the princess, while Blumiere ran to protect his wife, who had fallen roughly on the ground.

"Timpani! Please, are you alright?"

"Ungh... I'm fine." Timpani sat up and took her husband's gloved hand.

"Look out!" Luigi called, and Mario, who was nearby, raced over and jumped on a Dimentio clone that had been taking aim at the couple.

"Thanks." Blumiere said with widened eyes and a pale face as he pulled up his wife. "Mario, wait a moment." Taking a brief respite as there were no clones in that particular area, Blumiere quickly related a plan to Mario.

"When the clones are all defeated, we need to be ready to strike Dimentio as quickly as possible so that he won't create any more clones. Then we can finally be finished with this madness."

Mario nodded then ran off and jumped on a nearby clone before it could strike.

With stamina dropping everyone was trying to be as quick as they could be with the clones, ridding the room of flying purple and yellow jesters. It was almost a miracle that no one was severely injured as starbursts flew around the room, and with the addition of moving platforms, it was even more amazing that the clones were dispatched.

Noticing that nearly all the clones were gone, Dimentio snapped his fingers, and the white platforms expelled small white projectiles from the mouths, causing damage to whoever they hit.

Having noticed the true jester in the corner of the room, Blumiere cried, "Mario! Now!", and taking his staff, aimed it at Dimentio while summoning vast amounts of magic.

While Bowser dispatched the last of the clones, Mario and Peach both leapt up the platforms while avoiding the projectiles, and jumped on the jester's head. Luigi used his Super Jump and hit him from below, and while Dimentio flailed, Blumiere released a large blast of magic at the jester.

"A- No!" Dimentio cried, and fell to the ground in a jumbled heap of yellow and purple cloth.

Calmly, the six heroes came towards him.

"My... My magic... Wasn't strong enough..." Dimentio gasped for air.

"Hmph. There are more powerful things in this world than magic." Blumiere grunted.

"Oh, but do not think I am finished for a single moment..."

Mario and the others looked up in surprise as Dimentio took off his mask and dropped it to the floor, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces. He stood fully, now in his true form of Count Noir.

"The fun has only just begun." The castle shook, startling the group as they realized that they had not felt such a tremor since they left Flopside.

"But... Why would you destroy yourself?" Timpani asked, referring to the recent tremor.

"I wouldn't. When the Pure Hearts negated the effects of the Chaos Heart my barrier was dissolved, not only for myself but also for the one I had created for the castle."

Blumiere stood gaping at his father. "But... Once Dimentio, the creator of the Chaos Heart was slain, the Chaos Heart should have disappeared as well!"

Noir laughed maniacally as he opened another door that led into the white chapel. "I assure you, the Chaos Heart is still very much alive." He walked through the door, and the rest of the group followed, not daring to leave him out of their sight.

The door shut behind the group, so the two teenagers that had been watching from behind the first door quietly walked through the room and peered through the next.

* * *

Count Noir snapped his fingers, and Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi were immediately teleported away.

"What are you doing?" Blumiere cried.

"They will not be needed-" Noir was interrupted by an intense shaking of the castle, and The Void ripped up the roof and some of the walls of the room, exposing everyone to the wind and the swirling, threatening Void.

Eliza and Romando were attempting to hide behind what remained of the black walls of the Inner Sanctum, but were discovered.

"Ah, Eliza. So you have indeed returned." Count Noir said without even looking at her, his eyes fixated on the altar at the top of an enormous stairway. The Chaos Heart was sitting on top of the altar.

Both teenagers stood and joined Blumiere and Timpani.

"Of course, I knew you were here for the past few minutes."

A little bit shocked, Eliza stammered. "H-How?"

Count Noir ignored her question and spoke. "Have you thought about my previous proposal? I'll give you one last chance. Join me, Eliza. Or you will regret it."

"No! I will never join you!" Eliza shouted at him, her anger raging at this horrible monster who caused all of this.

Count Noir sighed and shook his head. "Very well... You have chosen yourself. Though, there really is no alternative option. That doesn't mean we can't do this the hard way."

He snapped his fingers, and a strange, green light glowed on top of Eliza's head. Once the light cleared, a small leafy plant was found, rooted under her dark brown hair.

"No! You... You can't!" Timpani cried.

"What's... Happening?" Eliza asked weakly and tried to feel her head, which was becoming numb.

"The Floro Sprout has grown quite nicely. Now, you didn't think I would come all this way without a backup plan, did you?"

Blumiere, Timpani and Romando stared at him, while Eliza slowly was becoming numb throughout her back and head.

"Even from the start, I had a fail-safe to ensure that the worlds would be destroyed, even if Dimentio was."

"But how would the Chaos Heart still be here?" Romando asked with fear.

Count Noir smirked and snapped his fingers again, and Eliza cried out and fell to the ground as sharp, constricting pain shot through her spinal cord.

"Eliza!" Romando rushed to her aid, his heart breaking at the sight of her tear-stained face as she writhed on the ground.

"I wouldn't do that. The controller of the Chaos Heart lies before you, soon to be under my control." Noir smirked.

Both Romando and Blumiere flinched as they heard this. "E-Eliza?" Romando's face paled as he glared at his father, who leered back at him.

"It is said that when two people are wed, they become one. The Chaos Heart lives on because of this stubborn brat."

Romando hesitated. "But... She..."

"The Chaos Heart requires a controller. She would not willingly do so, so I now am ultimately in control."

Anger boiled within both Blumiere and Romando now, and Timpani was quietly observing the scene, afraid of the outcome.

"That's sick and wrong!" Blumiere shouted.

"It's not like you've never known what truly is." Noir replied. Ashamed, Blumiere didn't say a word. He wanted to stop this madness, but removing the Floro Sprout would be impossible unless either Noir or Eliza were to be defeated.

"Please... Stop it..." Eliza quietly moaned as she struggled on the ground. The constricting pain caused by the Floro Sprout was almost too much for her to handle.

_The pain will stop when you surrender to it._ A deep voice suddenly resonated within her mind.

"N-No... Aah!" The pain immediately spread to her lungs, and her breathing became very shallow.

_You will surrender because you are weak. The Purity Heart cannot help you this time, because love is weak. Where has love gotten you? Your parents are dead. This world will die. You will die... Because love is weak._

Though Eliza couldn't see him from her position, Count Noir was staring intensely at her, speaking to her mind from his own.

Tears continued to flow from Eliza's eyes as more and more of her body became numb. It was hard to keep herself propped up. Her mind became dulled, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think for herself, to keep Count Noir out of her mind.

_Give in... It won't hurt any more._

Struggling, Eliza finally replied in her own mind, _No..._

_You have no choice._ With a furious expression Count Noir snapped his fingers one last time and Eliza collapsed on the ground, her arms limp and her body still.

"Eliza!" Romando called out and began to run to her. However, Blumiere caught him and held him back.

"Hold on."

"What are you-"

"We can't do anything."

Slowly Eliza stood, and then knelt in front of Count Noir. "What is your bidding, my count?" She heard herself say. Her body was moving, but she had no control over her actions. It was as if she was just along for the ride.

The ground shook once again as The Void grew and the wind continued to whip around furiously, and more of the walls were reduced to rubble in the quake.

"Destroy them." Noir pointed to Blumiere, Timpani and Romando, who were incredibly shocked.

Eliza stood and turned to them. Her normally bright eyes were now glazed over. She didn't move from where she was standing near the bottom of the stairway, but raised her hands and created a very small Void, which she hurled at the group.

"Look out!" Blumiere cried, and the three scattered as they tried to avoid Eliza's attack.

She paused, and Noir shook his head. "Foolish children. There is nowhere to run." He said, before resuming his control.

Eliza now created three Voids instead of one, and hurled them at her scattered friends, who each narrowly dodged them.

"Eliza! Stop, please!" Romando cried out to her, before her reply of another small Void being hurled in his direction.

"She can't hear you." Timpani told him, remembering the scenes she had witnessed before of a Floro Sprout in use.

"But there has to be a way to help her!"

Now Eliza flew into the air and stretched out her arms, and began to create another Void, this one more enormous than the rest she had thrown.

Blumiere created a small burst of magic and threw it at her, but she quickly flew out of the way, and continued to form this Void.

"Ha ha... Useless attempts. Your games will all... finally... end... By the hands of your own friend." Noir taunted them from a distance.

Now Eliza had almost finished forming the Void, and the three on the ground could feel the gravitational pull from it already.

"Is this... The end?" Timpani asked.

Romando walked a little bit out into the open, and he called out to Eliza. "Eliza, stop! He doesn't have to control you! I love you!"

Eliza immediately stopped forming the Void and widened her eyes.

"I love you so much, Eliza... Remember who you are, what we've been through..."

With no one to control it, the smaller Void began to close, and Noir frowned furiously. Blumiere and Timpani hugged each other, watching anxiously.

Memories began to flow back into Eliza's mind, and the thoughts of all her friends and family were in such conflict with the Floro Sprout that she could no longer concentrate on what she was doing, so she fell from mid-air and landed roughly on the ground, scraping herself.

"Remember that because I love you so, we will be married..."

Noir's eyes widened furiously and he tensed.

This much distraction was enough for Eliza to regain the use of her arms, and she reached up and grabbed the Floro Sprout, blood from her wounded hand dripping onto the plant, and she pulled it out of her head.

"What? No!" Noir cried as Eliza stood with the withering Sprout in her hand. Noir created a powerful red blast of magic and hurled it at Eliza, who immediately took a steady stance and hurled it right back at him, knocking him out and flinging him down the other side of a crumbled wall.

Before anything could be said, the ground shook violently and lightning cracked above.

"Eliza! The Chaos Heart!" Blumiere cried out to her.

Without a second glance Eliza ran as fast as she could up the stairs, and came to the altar where the Chaos Heart sat. Nervously, but with a strong will, Eliza raised her hands over the Heart, fighting against the dark pulsating energy.

_I want this world to know of love... Of the love I have for my friends, my family, for Romando... And my parents..._ She thought intensely.

Blumiere, Timpani and Romando watched with hopeful hearts, and cheered for her, encouraging her greatly. There was a bright flash of light and the Pure Hearts appeared. The power of the Chaos Heart began to weaken.

Black blood ran down Eliza's arm, and a drop fell on the Chaos Heart. The Pure Hearts glowed even more brightly and came together, forming the Purity Heart.

A bright, nearly blinding light glowed as the ground shook, but when the light finally cleared, so did The Void above.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly, and a gentle breeze blew. From where she was standing, Eliza raised her head and closed her eyes, soaking in the warm, fresh summer air that she had missed.

"'Four heroes unite, their hope burns forth light to shatter the walls of blight.' Just as Merlee once said." Eliza heard Timpani say.

She smiled and turned around, facing her friends standing at the bottom of the stairway. Before she even started walking though, she noticed something was very different.

As the young girl looked down at herself she gasped. Her skin was a deep shade of blue, and her arms from the shoulder to the wrist were invisible. She looked no different than that of a person from the Tribe of Darkness. Looking up with a surprised yet excited expression, she began to run down the stairs. "What-?"

Blumiere shrugged his shoulders as he chuckled. "I haven't the slightest idea!"

Romando was beaming at her.

Eliza continued to run down the large stairway. It was finally over. The nightmares, the dread, the misery.

But what happened next quickly brought all that back.

While everyone was distracted Count Noir reappeared and attempted to attack Eliza, throwing a deep, purple light of magic in her direction. However, before Eliza could react, Romando lunged in front of her as the light hit him squarely in the chest. With quick reflexes Blumiere turned and shot a burst of magic at the remainder of the walls, and they crumbled completely and crushed Noir where he was standing.

Finally, Count Noir was gone. But Eliza didn't care.

With searing gasps Eliza ran and knelt next to her love, who laid gracefully on the white stone. His breathing was very shallow... TOO shallow. He looked up at her with his bright orange eyes. "Eliza..."

Eliza took his hand in hers. "Romando... We did it... Just like you promised..." She fought the tears inside, but they could not be contained and they flowed down her blue face.

Romando gripped her hand tighter and gazed at her ring. "I'm so glad... I was with you... Through everything." He said weakly.

"So am I... But please, stay with me. You can make it, we just have to get you back..." Eliza ran her other hand through his wavy hair.

"I love you... Eliza..." His grip loosened and his eyes closed.

"No... Romando, don't leave me, please!" Eliza cried for him. His hand dropped limply to the ground.

"I love you..." Eliza leaned over his body with wracking sobs.

Nearby, Blumiere removed his hat and hugged his wife tighter as they both shook with the cries of their loss.

At this very moment, this moment of universal rejoicing and celebration, none on these worlds knew anything of the pain that surged through three young heroes.

Cheers and shouts of joy rippled throughout the towns of both Flipside and Flopside. Merlon waited anxiously for the heroes on top of the black tower in Flopside, accompanied by Mimi, Nastasia, and O'Chunks. After what seemed like an eternity, the large double doors finally opened, and out filed the Mario group, followed by Blumiere, Timpani, and Eliza.

Mimi and O'Chunks started to cheer and applaud, but Nastasia nudged them both as she realized something was wrong. Each of the Heroes of Light was looking looking very somber, Blumiere had tears rolling down his face, and Eliza had her face in her hands (Which startled the others a bit as she was blue) and was being comforted by Timpani.

"Oh... Oh my. Come, let's go to my house..." Merlon said, being startled at the sudden despair before him.

The group followed him to his home in Flipside, but only Blumiere, Timpani, and Eliza went inside. Mario and Co. decided to give them some privacy and run some errands, and suggested to the three former minions of Bleck to do the same.

Merlon shut the door once the three were inside. Eliza sat on the couch, Timpani next to her, while Blumiere remained standing, his top hat in his hands. Everyone's face was covered in tears.

Since everyone was so distraught, Merlon decided to avoid asking specific questions. He paused a moment as his eyes lingered on the Light Prognosticus, then quietly began. "What happened?"

Another few silent, painful moments passed, before Blumiere cleared his throat and told him the sad story, hesitating when he arrived at his brother's death. Shaking, he finally finished and gazed off into the distance as he took deep, trembling breaths.

Merlon paused another moment. Then he spoke, quietly, but strongly. "Endings like this are bittersweet. The worlds live on... Though not for one." Eliza looked up at him.

"I'm sure that he died with peace, knowing that his whole world would live on."

Eliza continued to tear up. It was true, she was sure of it. He died to protect her, because he loved her... She opened her mouth to speak, but the words caught in her throat and she cried even harder.

Tenderly, Timpani placed a loving hand on her shoulder. "I think... The best thing, for now, is for you to spend time at home with your family." She said softly.

Eliza raised her head and sniffed. She didn't want to argue, so she simply nodded.

A long, silent moment passed before someone finally spoke. Blumiere cleared his throat, but remained staring at his hat, still in his hands. "I... I'll escort you to your home."

The young girl sighed heavily and stood. Replacing his hat, Blumiere faced her and reached his gloved hand out. "Take my hand, and hold on."

Eliza took his hand, and Blumiere flipped out of the wizard's home.

* * *

Blumiere flipped the two of them to Eliza's front door, and then he stepped back and held Eliza's shoulders in his hands. "Well, here you are... You know how to get back to Flipside, so whenever you're ready, you can come back..."

Eliza had been toying with the ring on her finger for some time, and finally she took it off and held it up in front of Blumiere. "Here." She started to cry a little.

Blumiere did not take the ring, but took Eliza's hands and closed them around it. "Keep it, he would have wanted you to. This ring once belonged to our mother; now he finally gets to meet her." He looked up at her and smiled reassuringly, then pulled her into a comforting embrace. Now, not concerned about being seen, Eliza cried freely as she gathered herself underneath his cape. In these downcast times, nothing was more comforting than knowing that she had friends who cared.

After a few moments of tears, Blumiere gently let her go, and brushed the hair out of her young, blue face.

"Will we... Ever see him again?" Eliza asked softly as she wiped her face.

Blumiere sighed as he adjusted his monocle, then answered quietly. "I don't really know." He knocked on the door, and faced her again. "But I sincerely hope we do." With a final smile and a farewell nod, Blumiere stepped back. "See you soon." And he flipped away.

The door creaked open and Eliza turned to face her dad. It was clear that there was a celebration going on, there were uplifted spirits and cheers ringing from the other members of her family. when her dad looked at her, he had a broad smile on his face still, though he was clearly surprised. "Lizzy-beth?"

Coming up behind him were her mom and brothers, her brothers shouting cheers of "Way to go!" and "You did it!" while they bounced around.

Her mom, however, took one look at Eliza and immediately knew something was wrong. "Eliza? What happened?"

With a quivering lip Eliza slowly opened her hand, showing them the ring, and whispered before the sobs could come. "He's gone... I loved him..."

"Oh... Oh honey..." Her mom rushed over and enfolded her daughter in her arms.

"Hey, why is-" Mike began to ask why she was blue, but he was silenced by the glare he received from his mother as she held her sobbing daughter.

"I loved him... And he's just gone..."

Stroking her brown hair, Eliza's mom took her inside and comforted her.

* * *

The next week passed in a very strange way at the Richards' home. On more than one occasion Mrs. Richards found Eliza wandering around the house, zoned out and unsure of what to do. She wouldn't let her daughter go out during the day, since she was blue with 'floating' hands. The only person Eliza wanted to see was Adrianna, who was shocked at seeing her friend with blue skin, though she was a huge help in comforting her friend.

For several nights sleep was nearly impossible, and often Eliza would put on some jeans and a long hoodie to sneak outside for a walk, late at night, and she would simply gaze up at the stars, and remember the nights Romando taught her to use magic. She remembered how he was so persistent in teaching her, training her so she could help Nastasia and escape. She remembered the arguments they had, the first one over something that seemed so stupid and distant she didn't even remember what it was. She remembered how much he cared about her, which is why he was so upset when the Dark Prognosticus was discovered in the Overthere.

She smiled and gazed at her left hand, at the ring she still wore on her finger, when she reminisced about the last night they had together, when he proposed. Then she recalled that last, fateful day.

He had wanted her to succeed, to prosper, and so he wouldn't let her feel down on herself. Though right now, that's about all she could feel. She knew she should have been happy at least a little bit, the universe was safe and Count Noir was gone. But there was no mistaking the pain she felt every time she looked at her hands and remembered not just Romando, but the fact that her real parents were gone, too.

After a long week at home, Eliza finally decided to go back to Flipside. Bidding her family and friends farewell, she flipped away from Earth, and away from the life she had as a human.

* * *

"Aargh!" _poof_.

Eliza kicked up a puff of cloud. "Of course, it's here where I'm lost, where I can't just flip back..." She was wandering around the Overthere. All she wanted was to take a peaceful walk through Lineland, but she hadn't been paying attention and she walked through the wrong door on Flipside Tower.

Merlon, Blumiere, Timpani and she had just bid their farewells to the Mario group as they finally set off for their homes in the Mushroom Kingdom. After that, Eliza just wanted a relaxing time to herself, where she wouldn't _have_ to pay attention to where she was, like now.

"Let's see..." Eliza looked at the paths around her and tried to remember how she had reached where she was now. "I was just on stair 49... Or maybe it was 30..."

Out in the distance, a man and a woman watched the flustered girl.

"Is that..." The man whispered as he peered at the young girl.

"I think it is..." The woman smiled.

"Errgh... How in the universe did I-"

"Eliza?"

Eliza gasped, having not noticed anyone else around. "Who... Who's there?" She turned, and across the clouds, she saw a woman in a pretty scarlet dress, with brown hair, remarkable violet eyes, and deep blue skin, and standing with her was a man with blue skin in a distinguished suit, with black hair, and behind rectangular eyeglasses, deep, striking blue eyes. They both were smiling kindly at her with joy in their eyes.

Eliza felt her heart leap and tears of joy and excitement formed in her eyes at the sudden realization that hit her. "Mother? Father?"

The man and woman nodded, and Eliza rushed to them, and into their open arms. "All this time... I thought... I mean, I didn't know..."

"You didn't know that you were from the Tribe of Darkness?" Pierre asked her as they pulled away. Eliza nodded, and he smiled and spoke. "Well, anyone who looked at you would never have been able to guess. But now, now look at you." His smile broadened.

Eliza smiled back, then her face fell as she thought for a moment. "But... Why? Why wasn't I born this way? And why couldn't we just have been a family together?" Tears began to form yet again in the young girl's eyes.

Pierre looked at his wife before speaking again. "From the time you were born, magic has run in your blood. Magic turns the blood black, and the skin blue. However, in your case, we think that magic was somehow locked away, so you looked just like a human. It wasn't until you could learn how to use magic that your blood could change from red, to black.

Also, one final use of your power was enough to change you physically, so that the Chaos Heart did not recognize you as its host. For hatred looks on the outside and judges, while love looks at someone from the inside."

Eliza nodded, the pieces of the puzzle were finally falling into place.

This time, Foi spoke. "The king was so set on his hatred towards humans that we had no choice but to protect you in any way that we could. It wasn't until we realized we had to do something that it was too late. Now, none of this is your fault, and don't ever think that it was."

Eliza nodded again, unsure of what to say. A short moment passed, then Foi reached around her neck and took her necklace off.

"When you were born, we named you 'Esperance'. It means 'hope'. Your father and I both had visions of a young girl with white skin stopping the Chaos Heart with the Purity Heart. Romando was a fine young man, and I'm sure he is just as proud of you as we are." She held her necklace up and draped it around Eliza's neck.

"Now, I want you to have this. So you can always remember us." The necklace was a small, clear crystalline heart, though it seemed like it was black against Eliza's blue skin.

"Th-Thank you... It's so beautiful." Eliza looked up at her parents again. They both smiled as Pierre wrapped his arm around Foi. "I made that for your mother when we were engaged, as a symbol of my love for her."

"And now, you can remember that we will always love you, and we always have."

The sun began to slowly set on the horizon, creating the clouds around them to turn various shades of orange and purple.

"You'd best be on your way, it's getting late." Foi said.

Eliza nodded again. "Thank you." She smiled.

Pierre leaned over to her and whispered, "See the platform above this cloud? Follow that, then keep following the first stair upwards."

Eliza chuckled and whispered back, "Thank you... Father." She started walking away, then before she reached the platform, she looked back at her parents with tears in her eyes and waved to them. "Goodbye!" She called.

"Goodbye dear!" Foi called to her.

"Farewell!" Pierre called, and the two waved their daughter off as she journeyed back home with a revived spirit and hope in her heart once again.

* * *

"Darling..."

"What is it, Foi?"

"Our daughter... She did it. She saved the worlds."

"Just as we knew she would."

"Yes..."

"And now, we get to watch her grow up into a fine young woman."

"I like that... As long as I am by your side."

"Of course, my love. Forever and ever we shall be together, watching over our daughter."


	9. Epilogue

-Epilogue-

The room was darkening, causing the already dark room to become nearly impossible to see in. Eliza set down the book she was reading and walked outside onto the balcony, fingering the small crystalline heart around her navy blue neck.

Only a couple of days passed since she met her parents, but her mood had changed so much that it seemed like much longer. While she was still upset, she didn't feel as much pain anymore. She had friends who cared, which made all the difference in the worlds for her.

Blumiere and Timpani decided to make use of the otherwise deserted Castle Bleck, and invited Eliza to come live there as well. Nastasia and O'Chunks lived there too now, and as for Mimi, she returned to Merlee's mansion, continuing her duty as Merlee's handmaid.

Eliza sighed and wrung her cold hands together as she gazed up at the dark expanse of sky above, dotted with innumerable twinkling stars, and a moon that was nearly full. A star streaked across the night sky, signaling the beginning of a meteor shower. Closely following the first, three more meteors streaked across.

_A meteor shower..._ She thought. _A sign of prosperity... and love..._

Walking back inside, Eliza remembered what Romando had told her the very first night they had together. The night that changed her life... both of their lives... forever.

Feeling a wave of grief, Eliza sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands to cry.

Perhaps it would have been better if Romando never met her. She didn't even want him to get wrapped up in all of that in the first place. Was it all her fault? She was the one who tried to run out in the middle of the morning that day. She was the one who wasn't paying attention. It seemed like whenever something happened, it was Eliza that wasn't paying attention. When Count Noir attacked her, she wasn't paying attention and she could have stopped him... Before Romando did.

But she did enjoy the time she had with him, though it was short. It was the best time of her entire life.

Her face hot with tears, she gazed at the ring on her finger. She still wore it, though it really didn't do much for her. They couldn't be married... She would never see him again...

"Hello?"

Sniffing, Eliza looked up. She hadn't expected anyone to be around this part of the castle this late at night. "Bl-Blumiere? Is that you?" She asked, attempting to quickly dry her eyes.

"Please... Stop crying. I cannot bear to see such a beautiful girl so miserable."

_What?_ Getting a strange sense of deja vu, Eliza looked up with furrowed eyebrows, and asked, "Where... where are you? I can't see you..."

Even though she had partially expected something to happen, she was still shocked as a young man flipped into the bedroom.

Squealing, Eliza stood up and rushed over into Romando's arms, nearly knocking him over.

Laughing, Romando caressed his fionce.

"Oh my gosh, Romando... Of all ways to make an entrance..."

"Well, I picked something you would remember. Would a simple 'Hello' have been sufficient?"

Eliza laughed as she took his hand in hers. "Probably not... But how?"

Romando gripped her hands tight. "Your parents are amazing people. After I met them Monsieur Fonce offered his services as an advisor to King Grambi in exchange for my return here. And... I met my mother." He smiled so broadly, Eliza couldn't help but smile back.

"That's wonderful!"

"She was so kind and gentle... And she has the most vibrant red eyes, just like Blumiere said... She wishes us the best of luck together." He smiled as he kissed Eliza's left hand.

"Just like you promised..." Eliza began to tear up as she remembered his promise that she would never again be alone.

"A gentleman always fulfills his promise to a lady. Evidently, not even death can stop him." He grinned so mischievously, but Eliza just squeezed him again. "And now that the worlds are back in order, we can be married- once you turn sixteen- and we will never be separated again."

Eliza gazed up into his bright orange eyes as she ran her fingers through his black, wavy hair. "I'd like that."

She smiled, and he leaned down and kissed her as if the worlds would never end, just for this moment of pure bliss between a prince, and his princess-to-be.

* * *

And so, the Dark Prognosticus was once again averted and hope could once again prevail. The evil tome was sealed away, never again to be seen by evil eyes, and Count Noir was locked away in the deepest part of the Underwhere.

Blumiere and Timpani lived peaceful lives in Castle Bleck, where Blumiere often wrote his poetry for his wife. The worlds lived peacefully on, working hard each day to maintain a bright future.

As for Romando and Eliza?

Now finally reunited, they were soon married with a wedding fit for royalty. Eliza's parents, Foi and Pierre Fonce, now watch their daughter from above with joyful hearts, always by each other's side.

And now you know the story... of the time when those of Darkness... had returned.

-THE END-


End file.
